Journals
by acclutch94
Summary: After Elizabeth leaves, Matt and C.J. take on a new case, one that C.J. finds herself more involved in than she anticipated.  Just borrowing the amazing Aaron Spelling's characters for fun and creating a couple of new ones in minor roles. Note the rating.
1. Chapter 1

Matt stared out at the skyline. Elizabeth had just left and although he felt like his heart had gone with her, he knew it was for the best.

But what to do now? He finished his Scotch and carried the glass back over to the wet bar. He stopped there for just a minute, contemplating whether or not to pour himself another one. He could go downstairs and pummel his punching bag for a while. That's how he had dealt with frustration in the past. Only this time, it wasn't coming down from a case he had worked on, no, this was his life and his future. That's if he really had one. He had his flings in the past and loved lots of women, but that's not what he wanted now.

He really thought Elizabeth was the one. After losing his fiancé years ago he had had dreams of a woman he thought was his soul mate. When he met Elizabeth, he thought she was the woman of his dreams and he allowed himself to fall hard for her. He almost lost her though, and he couldn't risk losing a wife to a psychopath and she clearly didn't want to take that risk. He just couldn't do that again and if that meant being alone…but no, that's not what he wanted, not at all.

Punching a bag wouldn't help anything as twisted up inside as he felt. Only one person could bring him back down to earth, C.J. She held his hand through every twist and turn in life. The only person he ever really let in to see his fears, his hopes, and even his dark side when a case pushed him just a little too far. He could count on one hand the number of times he needed to deal with something without her, like when he had to deal with that same serial killer who had killed his fiancé in the past, and then killed a look alike right in front of him. C.J. understood, she always did. She never pushed him too hard, just prodded him to share and move on, finally coming to the other side of all that pain. That's where he needed to go now, to see her.

It was late, but he figured she would still be up. Not only was she up, but it looked like she had a visitor. Matt recognized Hoyt's car when he pulled up and wondered why he was there. It could just be a social call, Hoyt probably heard about the aborted wedding and came to C.J. for information. No one knew Elizabeth had left, so most people probably thought her and Matt were off somewhere planning a bigger wedding. Matt sighed, turned the car off and headed for the door.

As he made his way to the porch he could hear C.J. and Hoyt having a rather heated discussion.

"I don't need a babysitter!" C.J. said rather loudly.

"I don't need another murder investigation either! Or Houston on my back because something happened to you! " Hoyt came back with, matching C.J.'s volume. "and I don't want anything happening to you either" he softened, "Listen, its only for a couple of weeks, until we can get him arraigned again. In the meantime, you'll just have a couple of nice looking men following you around all day. What's so bad about that?"

Matt knocked on the door.

C.J. half-heartedly chuckled, "what every woman wants, huh", she sighed, "Hoyt, I can take care of myself" as she walked to the door.

"What's going in here, the neighbors are going to call in a disturbing of the peace on you two," Matt said as he walked in looking at both of them.

"How much did you hear?" C.J. asked, hoping he only heard pieces and she could think up something real quick to divert his attention. After all, he had enough to deal with, what with his wedding being interrupted the way it was. His attention needed to be on Elizabeth and their wedding, not on her and the latest threat to her life.

"Enough to know that I don't think I'll be leaving you alone for while" Matt came back with as he looked her up and down. "Hoyt, what exactly is going on? Who do you think will be coming after C.J. and why?"

Hoyt took a deep breath, "Robert Tyler".

Matt's brows shot up immediately. Robert Tyler was the man C.J. thought she fell in love with almost a year ago. Right after she had made her declaration of love to Matt while on the run from police after being framed for a murder he didn't commit. He didn't answer her that night, and he ended up fleeing afterward for over a month. When she did get to see him again, she ran to him, he held her for a brief moment before having to run again as a wanted man, but left her with one soft kiss. When all was said and done, he needed time to reconnect with his uncle and she had been left waiting. In the meantime, Robert had come back in to town to work on furthering his career as a newscaster and, or so it seemed, to connect with C.J. again. They had dated briefly in college.

Just the mention of his name brought back memories for C.J. from months ago. There she was waiting for Matt to do something with her revelation to him that she loved him and he had left. She could kick herself for being shot in the shoulder that night. If she hadn't, what would have happened? Would they have gone back to the office? Would he have told her that he loved her back? Or would he have told her that she meant too much to him as a friend. When she finally did get to see him again, she ran to him, ignoring any fear of the potential let down that could be coming. He took her in his arms as if he had waited forever to hold her and ran his hand through her hair with a look on his face that said…_you have no idea how much I missed you_. After that last, sweet but brief kiss, with his hand stroking her face, all he said was, "Missed you" before he was gone again. Finally, and it seemed like forever for her, the case ended. But then he took off with his uncle. She knew Uncle Roy from when she and Matt both grew up together in Texas and she was more than happy to see him again, but she really wanted to at least come to some understanding of what had been said between them. It was in that limbo that Robert stepped back in to her life. He not only wanted to spend time with her, but he wanted her, and she fell into that. But it had been a con….he only wanted to move ahead and she was just one piece of the puzzle for him, and Matt still didn't know all the details.

"What the….how….what is he doing lose?" Matt asked in way more of a calm manner than he was feeling at that moment. "How did he escape?"

"He didn't escape" Hoyt answered almost sighing at the same time, "He was released on a legal technicality. Our D.A. is working, as we speak, on getting a motion before the court in the morning for a new trial".

"Technicality? What technicality? He was caught red handed threatening a woman he believed to be the wife of his former accomplice. We have it on tape." Matt sounded a little exasperated.

"That's part of the problem Houston" C.J. tried to explain. "Its entrapment. We lured him to that hotel when I told him where the wife of George Davis was hiding out, and we violated his civil rights by taping him".

"What about the evidence found in his apartment? I mean, it tied him to the Barbra Daniels kidnapping and George Davis" Matt asked.

"All discovered as a result of our tape," C.J. said softly, "It may all get thrown out because of me."

Hoyt walked over to her, "C.J., its not your fault. I authorized the use of that hotel room and I knew what you and Houston were planning. His lawyer's right. I should have known better, found another way," putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I believe he's arguing that I, as an officer of the court, should have known better." She looked down as she finished the rest of her point, "I just wasn't thinking clearly, I knew it was entrapment."

"Look, like I said, its just a couple of weeks, at the most, until we can bring him in again for a new trial. In the meantime, I'm assigning two officers to watch your every move. As much as you dislike it. We aren't taking any chances" Hoyt said as he made his way to the front door. "And now that Houston knows what's going on, I have every confidence that he will make sure you have even more protection. Goodnight." With that, Hoyt left C.J. and Matt alone.


	2. Chapter 2

C.J. closed and locked the door before looking back at Matt. "What brings you over this late at night? Where's Elizabeth?"

Matt closed his eyes for a second. During that entire conversation, he hadn't thought of Elizabeth once. "She's not with me, she left."

"Left where? She's at the beach house?" C.J. asked not thinking he meant anything more than for the night.

Matt looked down, "No, I mean she and I are not getting married anymore. That's one of the reasons I came over tonight." He looked up again at her. She walked right over to him and held him in her arms.

"I am so sorry Houston" she said patting his back, trying to find exactly the right words to say to him. "You know this doesn't mean you won't get married someday and have the family you always wanted" as she broke their embrace. Her eyes didn't leave his as she said "You will have all that and more someday, I know it."

She always could read him like a book he thought, but it wasn't as simple as she was making it out to be. Right now, though, a bigger threat existed, and that threat would allow him to take his mind off his own problems and focus on her. Her safety was paramount to him, but it wasn't just her physical safety he was concerned about.

"What about you? I know Robert said some horrible things to you when he was sentenced. How do you feel about his being released, you can tell me if you're scared, you know." Matt inquired softly.

At that point, C.J. turned toward the living room and walked over to the couch. There was a lot more to story than Matt knew, but she wasn't ready to tell him, not just yet. Matt still thought Robert wanted to marry her out of love, but C.J. knew the truth. Her expression and body language changed, and Matt noticed.

"I don't want to think about that right now, I'm tired. I know what he said and I know he threatened me. Hoyt will keep those two babysitters out there all night, you don't have to stay Houston." She said, hoping he would get the hint.

Matt did get the hint, the problem was he didn't want to leave. But he knew C.J. and he knew she needed some space. He could trust her to tell him in her own time, but he did have to admit that he was more than a little concerned for her. He walked over to her and put his hands on her arms. "Maybe I should send a couple of security guys over too, just in case he comes calling, ok, please?" he asked as nicely as he could.

"Fine, if it will make you feel better, fine. But I'm a big girl Houston and I can take care of myself. Just remember that ok" she replied because she knew he loved her as his best friend and didn't want anything bad to happen to her, but she also needed to make it clear that she wasn't some damsel in distress here either.

"It will make me feel better, thank you", he cupped her chin in his hand and gave her a sweet little kiss on the mouth, "Goodnight", and with that he left.

He didn't go back home though, he went to the precinct. Officer Cummings was easy enough to get information out of and Matt knew his weakness, Texas chilli. All he had to do was promise a big bowl and Cummings would spill exactly where Robert was and whatever information C.J. and Hoyt were keeping from him.

"Now come on Mike, I am promising you a piping hot bowl of real Texas chili. I don't mean the kind you get in a can or that stuff you get at that taco stand in the morning…I mean the real deal here made by a real Texan." Matt pleaded his case in that Texas drawl to a clearly weakening Evidence Officer Mike Cummings, "made out on a real working ranch?"

"I want a tub, not a bowl" Cummings said as his resolve completely broke down.

"I tell you what, I'll give you two tubs, one for now and one to freeze for later" Matt said as he sealed the deal. He had plenty at home as Bo and Lamar had just sent it three days ago from his Texas ranch.

"Give me a minute" Cummings looked out past Matt to make sure no one saw anything and then walked back to find the box with the information he was looking for. After rummaging around for a few minutes he came back file folder. He held on to it as he slipped it under the window to Matt. "No one knows where you got this information, right?"

"My lips are sealed" Matt said as he took it from him, stuffing it under his suit jacket. He headed straight out to his car so Hoyt wouldn't see him and took off for the beach house.

C.J. slept on and off all night. Her thoughts alternating between Robert and Matt. Robert, that scum, she should have known he'd find a way to get out. If he wanted to come after her, so be it. She was ready for him and still mad but in the last few weeks she had also gotten a little depressed. Matt's engagement left her raw. She was jealous of Elizabeth and she had to watch Matt fuss over her and _not_ keep his hands off her all day long whenever they were together. She tried to tell him, her one last chance to, and he had just told her that what they had would always be. He said it would only get better, yeah for him, not her. Now Robert was out and bent on revenge. Part of her didn't care, what if he did get to her, what if something did happen. What if he killed her. What would that mean? She had been thinking she could see how this would all play out with Matt. He would marry Elizabeth, then back away from investigating at her request, they would have kids and his family will circle around them leaving her out. Then she would truly be alone. Perhaps Carl was the only hope of true love she would ever know, Matt certainly didn't seem interested that way. Maybe it was best if she were gone, but what would that do to Matt? Of course he would mourn, but he could move on after that. Maybe he could then truly find someone to marry and start that family with, since she wouldn't be there for women to think they were competing with her. She would always be a sweet memory to him and that could be enough. No, she knew it would hurt him more than that and maybe she would find someone someday that she would love like Matt, but she doubted it.

Matt barely slept, between Elizabeth leaving and C.J.'s life in jeopardy again, his mind was running wild. The folder he got out of Cummings left more questions than answers. There was a notation about his new apartment, not far from their office in fact. Matt definitely didn't like that, it might make getting a Temporary Restraining Order against him more difficult and it already gave Robert more access to C.J. than Matt was comfortable with. He could see her drive in and out if nothing else. But the rest was just confusing. What did they mean by _conspiracy to commit murder_ and _reasonable expectation of an immediate lawless action, _or _probable cause to investigate an intention to commit the act of rape_. It wasn't that it was gibberish to him. His uncle actually called the language of the law as legalese, gibberish written by lawyers at $200 an hour. Matt understood the legal words, but he didn't get the context. What were they talking about? Where were the notations on the kidnapping? Why didn't any of these notations reference what he had been convicted of? They all seemed to point to something suspected from Robert in the future. Matt ran his hand through his hair as he sat up in bed. The future. Just the thought of what the future holds almost brought tears to his eyes again. He could still smell Elizabeth's perfume on the pillow she slept on. He held it tight and drifted back off to sleep.

The morning came all too quickly for one Robert Tyler. His new apartment was comfortable enough, although not by the beach as he would have preferred. This one provided its own view though. He could see straight into that blasted penthouse where the two of them masterminded their plot against him. He had binoculars to see every movement, every flinch, down to every facial expression that woman made. She wasn't really all that special, it just made such a good storyline. College sweethearts that meet up again and fall in love, only it had that tragic ending that made it such a good drama. It had been perfectly planned out until her and that stupid, spoiled cowboy messed everything up. He was a rising star, could have had New York at his fingertips. They would have welcomed him and the whole world before he retired would have known his name. Maybe a Pulitzer prize would have been in the cards, but no, he spent the last 8 months and 15 days in a prison cell.

He threw his coffee cup against the wall and it shattered. All sorts of words came to his mind as he thought about her. He couldn't have done himself what he had planned all those months ago, but now he could, and he relished the thought of it. He would just have to be patient, his newfound friend in prison taught him. Just wait and bide your time. The lawyers this friend hired had not only gotten him out, but promised to put him in the headlines again with the civil rights suit. Before it was over, he might even be bigger than he could have imagined before, a martyr for the First and Fourth Amendments. He just needed to be patient and wait, and then when that cowboy wasn't looking, her death would make the story of the century.


	3. Chapter 3

C.J. and Matt arrived at almost the same time that morning. They ended up riding up the elevator together with two plain clothes officers and Chris.

"So, I'm Chris", Chris said introducing herself to the two rather well built gentlemen.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Chris, this is Mark and this is Jake, they are L.A.P.D. officers, uh, hanging out with us today." C.J. tried to explain without divulging all the details.

"Ok, well, like I said I'm Chris, so if you need anything, you just let me know" Chris said winking at each one separately.

Matt and C.J. just looked at each other quite amused. The door dinged open and the two officers walked out with Chris between them, taking them to the wet bar to get a cup of coffee for each of them.

"Maybe I should hire more security in case Chris keeps those two too distracted" Matt whispered to C.J. as they got off the elevator. That got a chuckle from her. He turned to face her and held her arm for a second before they went the separate ways in the penthouse, "Seriously, I want you to be careful ok? We don't know what Robert is planning so we have to keep our guard up."

"I know Houston, and I'm fine, really. Don't think you're sticking me in my office to look over legal paperwork all day. I set up an appointment for us to meet with a new client. He'll be here at 10 and I should have all the research done and ready by then. I already have Baby ready with most of it, but there are a couple of things I need to call on." She rubbed his arms this time and told him again not to worry before turning and heading into her office.

With that, and Chris with the two police officers in the main area of the penthouse, Matt went downstairs to workout. An early morning workout was just the thing for him to release some pent up energy and frustration. After this meeting with the client, he planned to make up some reason to go see Hoyt to try to get more answers about the new police investigation of Robert.

"Houston, you decent?" C.J. called into the gym as she descended the stairs. She used to not worry so much, but an accidental run in one day as she walked in just as he opened the shower door to pick up the towel that had fallen on the floor changed that. As he stood up he gave her quite a view, to which she promptly, well sort of promptly turned away. He thought he might have seen her look in his direction for a second there, but wasn't sure. She made it appear she had just forgotten something and had to turn around, but he did notice she started more or less announcing herself from there on out.

"Yea C.J., just cuffing my sleeves. Our client here yet?" he hollered back.

"Not yet, but he called and said he was on his way. You wanna go over the case before he gets here?" she said as she got to that last step where he met her.

"Sounds like a plan" and he gestured for her to lead the way. She turned around but her heel caught on the slate and she lost her balance and fell backward.

Matt caught her in his arms and held on to her for a second. Their eyes caught for a brief moment and then she caught herself and said "thanks".

"You're more than welcome Mz. Parsons," he said while still holding her.

He lightly pushed her back on the step and she leaned over and took her shoe off. "So much for those heels, guess I'll have to change them. I'll be back in a minute and then we can brief the case."

A few minutes later they were in front of Baby. Matt checked on the two officers still talking to Chris in the lobby and then poured two glasses of juice for him and C.J. and walked over to where she was sitting on the couch.

"Ok, so our client, Mr. Abernathy claims he was robbed. Last week he had $5 million dollars in a bank account, earmarked for a construction project in the Lakeside district." C.J. said as she clicked more buttons. "Then two days ago he got a call from this man, Martin Coswell. He told him that building inspectors were being paid off to overlook certain code violations, mostly in the area of safety. He's gone missing though, no one can seem to find him."

"Safety issues, you mean like fire exits, escapes, that sort of thing?" Matt asked.

"You bet, in fact, there is a case pending right now involving this man" C.J. said as she clicked more buttons and brought up another picture, "Drayton Zoyer."

"The Hope Building Fire, right? Where 58 people died because of faulty wiring," Matt said as he thought back to case that had been on the news for days just one year ago.

C.J. looked down, "Yes that's the one. Fourteen of the victims were children and all of them were lower income." She looked back up at Matt and he could see that discussing the case affected her, "Most of the lawyers around the courthouse think that because they're lower income and the defendant is wealthy, he won't be punished that severely. He's been able to get continuances and delays for a year now, but it finally comes up next month. That's one of the reasons I want us to take this case. Abernathy claims that $1 million dollars was stolen out of his account yesterday and that it was taken out to either bribe an inspector or to pay off a judge in the case. There is a short list of people this could be with access to the information to make the withdraw."

"Who are they?" Matt asked as he rubbed her back to bring her some measure of comfort.

She clicked more buttons, "First up is Martha Mason. She is Abernathy's secretary."

"His secretary might have access, but what motive would she have?" Matt asked.

"Well, according to Baby she's been having regular large monthly deposits made into her account for the past 5 months. And she worked for a law firm that represented Zoyer in case about 2 years ago" C.J. explained.

"Ok, well the deposits are interesting, but is there any paper trail that would lead directly to Zoyer?" Matt inquired.

"Not that Baby has found. The deposits came from an offshore account set up in the Cayman Islands" C.J. said as she clicked more buttons, "Next we have Sid Eastmen. He is the head contractor for the project. He had access to the account information, and he worked for Zoyer on the Hope Building. In fact he is also being investigated by police in relation to the fire, and Houston, if Zoyer is found guilty, legally Eastmen would be criminally liable as well and that could mean financially liable in future civil cases for both of them."

"Strong motive to pay off a judge or two" Matt acknowledged.

C.J. clicked more buttons, "Then we have this man, Judge Newman."

"A judge? We really have a judge as a possible suspect?" Matt asked as his brows went up and he looked at C.J. "Isn't it a little difficult to go after a sitting judge?"

"Well, yes, but it can be done. We would of course need the U.S. Marshals to know what's going on before we actually tried to do anything, but Houston, this was the judge that granted the injunction to allow the building of the Lakeside project against environmental protests and he is scheduled to sit on the Zoyer case. That means, any evidence collected, such as account numbers and information, he would have had access to as he reviewed the case." She explained.

"Well if he does look good for it we might want to have some names and numbers handy in the Marshal's office" Matt reasoned.

"Already got it, Lefty is meeting me for lunch at 1 at that deli down the street." C.J. said with a hint of smile on her face.

"Lefty? Whose lefty?" Matt asked with his own little smile knowing she was about to reveal just a little more of her college days he was sure. He was there for most of the rest of her life.

"Lefty's real name is Seth Parkdale, he's a U.S. Marshall and one of Harvard's best left hand pitchers" she said as she clicked more buttons to bring up the photo of one last suspect.

"Why, C.J. I didn't know you were such a sports fan in college, outside of my own football games of course" Matt said and tried to look a little injured as he did.

She came back with, "Who said I watched any of the games? Now on to our last suspect"

"Isn't that our client James Abernathy? Why is he a suspect?" Matt said confused.

"Well I know all our clients are innocent Houston, but his 'robbery' could be an excellent cover if he did pay a bribe" C. J. theorized a little sarcastically.

"Ok, well it looks like we have our list of suspects. I'll meet with the client. Why don't you finish up all your paperwork so you can take off after your meeting with Lefty. Just make sure your two shadows out there in the lobby don't get left behind anywhere, ok." Matt offered.

"Look Houston", C.J. started, "I do not plan to put my life on hold while Robert awaits a trial."

"I'm not asking you to do that C.J., but I know his being released was a shock and I doubt you got any real sleep last night. What's wrong with me wanting you to take some time off and get some rest?" Matt asked as he turned to face her on the couch.

"Oh really, and how much sleep did you get last night? Between worrying about me and then the loss of Elizabeth? I know you. You can't do this Houston. You can't devote all of yourself to watching after me and taking on cases just so you don't have to think about, deal with this." She put one hand on his cheek "So you aren't working this case alone, ok"

As much as he wanted to lash out at her and tell her she was totally wrong, she nailed it. She knew him way too well. So he simply said, "That's not what I'm doing" as he got up and went outside to the patio.

"Oh really," she said as she followed him out there.

From about a mile away on the 18th floor of his apartment Robert was watching their every move.

"Yes, really. Look, C.J. I don't want to talk about this right now," Matt said as he looked out over the skyline, a hint of anger in his voice.

"I'm not trying to push you, I'm..." C.J. tried to softly explain.

"I know what you're trying to do, I know you too well, and I'm telling you to back off for now." Matt's voice got louder with each word, and although he didn't realize it, C.J. and Chris with the two officers certainly did.

C.J. looked down at the patio for a second and then at Chris and her two bodyguards who waiting just inside the penthouse. She didn't want Matt to see them there or to snap back at her again so she decided to leave him outside to think with one thought, "I know what you're doing…trying to push me away….but its not going to work" she said very softly, "when you're ready to talk and deal with this, you know where to find me." Then she turned and walked back inside.

Matt sighed and looked back out at the building surrounding his office. He thought he saw a flash of something in a window several buildings away, like the sun bouncing off a window, but he needed just another minute before going back in.


	4. Chapter 4

"Ah, a lover's spat, how cute." Robert hissed as he put down his binoculars. He was just dying with anticipation on getting back at the two of them. He just had one little job to do first, a payment on his newfound freedom. Actually this would give him just the practice he needed before he went after her.

Chris met C.J. inside, "There's a James Abernathy in the lobby waiting, he says he's a client."

C.J. looked back out at Matt who seemed to be staring off in the distance. "Tell him we just need one minute and then send him in. I'll grab my notepad and start some more coffee."

"Oh yeah, sorry about the coffee…I just kept getting Mark and Jake more so they would be on their toes if something happened. You don't happen to know which one is single do you? Mark said only one of them was available and that I should have learned something about detective work while working here, so I could figure it out myself."

C.J. almost laughed outright, but held back and said, "No I don't, but they're right. You can figure it out, you just have to ask the right questions. Think about it."

C.J. chuckled as Chris went back out to the lobby. Chris gave her one last wink, as a signal that she totally understood C.J. Faintly C.J. could hear Chris, "They will be right with you Mr. Abernathy. So Mark, how did you say you got that scar again? Your girlfriend must have been so worried."

Two hours and two pots of coffee later, Matt and C.J. were no closer to finding out who took that $1 million dollars out of that account or where it had gone. Abernathy, sweating and dabbing himself with his handkerchief over and over again had explained that the money was there one day and gone the next. He would never have attempted to bribe anyone, not an inspector or a judge. He was truly baffled, he claimed. After going through the list of suspects, Abernathy didn't provide any real information Matt or C.J. could really use. Yes, Ms. Mason worked for him and had access to the information, but he was sleeping with her and she wouldn't do something like this because she told him she really loved him. Matt and C.J. just looked at each other when he said that with a hint of skepticism. Mr. Eastmen, Abernathy didn't think he had the brains to pull something like this off and the judge….well…he was a judge. Abernathy practically stopped talking at the mention of his name. C.J. and Matt noted that he looked absolutely terrified at the thought and said something to the effect of "aren't they basically above the law?"

They told him they would keep in touch and if they found any more leads they would let him know, but reminded him to do the same if he learned anything.

"Ok, so where do you want to start?" C.J. asked as she piled all the papers back into a folder from the table they were sitting at by the hot tub.

"Lunch. Neither of us has eaten in a while and I know I'm hungry. You're meeting with Lefty, right?" Matt said as he looked sideways at C.J. who barely suppressed a chuckle.

"Correct" she came back with. "We're meeting at that deli, but that's not for an hour. I could walk down the street with you if you are thinking of heading to that little restaurant down the block." She offered.

"Nah, I'm gonna take my time and think through the case. Maybe something will hit me as stroll down the street. Don't forget your two shadows here." He said as he made his way to the elevator.

Matt must have been lost in thought because he walked right into Robert Tyler when he entered that restaurant.

"Well, well, well, long time no see." Robert said as if he were teasing Matt, "I certainly hope you aren't planning on ruining my lunch appointment on such a beautiful day."

"What are you doing here, so close to my office Robert?" Matt shot back, his hands clenched at his side, but with what most would think was a calm demeanor.

"A man's gotta eat, Houston, and this place is rather good I've heard. Oh yes, it was C.J. that told me about this place, its one of her favorites, is it not?" Robert said with a grin on his face.

"Is that what you're doing here, are you looking of her? Because if you are, let me advise you to find another place to feed yourself." Matt warned him with a look that could kill.

"Is that a threat? Are you threatening me?" Robert said as he raised his voice to gain a bigger audience. "I'm here as a free man to pay good money at this establishment and have a nice lunch, and you can't stop me. If you try, I'll file a TRO against you and that might make it a little difficult for you to work at your office since I now live so close to this lovely restaurant."

"Your release was only temporary Robert, and in the meantime, you are going to stay away from my associate." Matt said as he got just a little bit closer to Robert, "If I catch you within 10 feet of her, there won't be anything left for the state to put on trial, you understand?"

Matt held up his hand to the host who looked a little afraid a fight was about to break out, "I'll have lunch somewhere else. " Looking back at Robert he said, "I just lost my appetite."

C.J.'s lunch with Lefty went just fine. He looked almost exactly the way she remembered him, except for the gold band on his left hand.

"So, I know you didn't ask me to lunch to reminisce over old times, as much as I enjoyed that. What's up" he asked getting to the point now that they actually finished eating.

"Well Seth, Houston and I have this case, and it might involve looking at a judge as a potential suspect. I know that's difficult to do and we certainly would fully cooperate with the Marshal's office if we think we have a strong case." She explained.

"Which judge?" he asked.

"Newman, Raymond Newman…..our case involves a real estate development project and could be tied to Drayton Zoyer, but we aren't sure of anything just yet." C.J. noticed when she mentioned Newman's name, Seth reacted. "What is it?"

"How much do you have?" he asked much more quietly than before and after he had scoped out the deli first.

C.J. barely shook her head and said, "Not much, we're in the preliminary phase right now, we haven't so much as spoken to one suspect yet. Why? What's going on with Newman that you aren't telling me?" in almost a whisper.

"Between us, and I do mean this stays between us…" he waited for her to nod her head before he proceeded, "he's been on our radar for 2 years now. I can't tell you much more than that, but he is a very dangerous man. I'm not just saying that for you, but for Houston too. I know you and Houston are close, but you need to come to me if you get anything on him first. It's a federal investigation I'm talking about C.J. and I know you don't want Houston in any serious legal trouble for interfering."

"I just told you we planned to cooperate fully and…." She started to say, but he cut her off.

"I know what you said, but I'm telling you. Come to me first and then Houston that's all I'm asking, and don't ever go to interview him alone understand? I mean it." Seth finished and then looked around before changing the subject. "So I hear your ex is out and running around? I assume that's why the two undercover beat cops over there haven't even touched their sandwiches?"

She looked down at her plate then, "Yes, he is. You don't know him, we dated before I went to Harvard. I thought he cared for me, but I was wrong." She said softly.

"I read the file last month, I wanted to go pummel him when I read what he had planned to do to you." He said as he put his hand on hers on the table.

"Last month? Why would be looking at his file last month?" C.J. shot a look at him and he sighed, clearly he had forgotten how fast she could think through things. That look she gave him told him she wasn't playing around. "What's going on and you better tell me. I understand you not sharing about the judge, but this is my life we are talking about here and I deserve to know."

"Its nothing really, we were checking on everyone in the same prison as Drayton Zoyer and Robert Tyler was one of them. All the marshals in my office were assigned to look at a set number of files and I drew his that's all. I'm glad to see you have some bodyguards but here's my card, keep it on you, if you need me you know you can always call." He said hoping she would buy that it was just random.

She wasn't sure about Seth's explanation, but he didn't seem like he was going to offer any more information, so she decided to drop it for now and head back to the office. They said their pleasant goodbyes and she walked down the street back toward Houston's building. As she got to the front she found Matt trying to choke down a hotdog from the vendor.

"What are you doing eating that?" C.J. chuckled as she approached him. "I thought you were headed down the street to Tuscan Sunset…this is a long way from Italian cuisine" she said pointing to the hotdog.

Matt thought about that for a minute, he didn't know how she would react to hearing that Robert was just a couple of streets away, but he didn't really want to lie either. "I didn't like the atmosphere today, anyway I was thinking about finding that Sid Eastmen and having a little conversation. Even if Abernathy is right and he's not that brilliant, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist these days to withdraw money out of an established bank account." He said as he just threw the hotdog away. "And maybe I'll find a hamburger joint on the way. Oh, and Murray is looking for you, says he has some papers he needs the Vice President's signature on. I told him you'd be back any minute." As he left he smiled at her thinking, that will keep her in the office for a while, probably the rest of the day, and Robert wouldn't be able to get anywhere near her. The extra guards he brought in had Robert's picture and strict orders to shoot first and ask questions later, ok maybe throw out first, but he made it clear Robert was not welcome and would be trespassing if caught on his property, he made sure after getting back to the office from Tuscan Sunset.


	5. Chapter 5

C.J. made her way upstairs and bumped into Uncle Roy as he was walking to the elevator from the penthouse. He stopped to give her a hug and said, "I heard about Robert, howya doin?"

She put her arm around his waist and they walked back into the penthouse, "I'm fine, really." She turned back to see Chris, clearly happy that Mark and Jake were back.

"Matlock is worried about you, you know." He said as he left to get a drink at the wet bar.

"I know Uncle Roy, but I'm more worried about him. He doesn't seem to be dealing with his breakup with Elizabeth. I don't want him to suffer any more than he has to and not talking or yelling or anything isn't going to help him get past this." She sighed as she sat down. "I know how he feels, wondering if the future holds what you want it to and being afraid because you know its all out of your control. Love and happiness can't be bought."

"You and Matlock are trying so hard to find something that has been staring you in the face all your lives, and don't try to deny it. I always had my suspicions that you might be the smarter of the two when it came to this. Bill and I certainly knew and probably everyone else around you knows it too. Let me ask you, how many boyfriends told you they couldn't compete with my nephew?" he asked knowing the answer already.

"But…" C.J. tried to reply not believing entirely what Roy was telling her. I mean she knew that he knew that she had feelings for Matt, but Matt didn't share them, so what was the point of him telling her all this, not that it stopped him.

"Here's a better question, how many times have people mistaken you two for husband and wife?" he continued, "Back in the company we had classes on how to pull that off, and I don't remember the two of you even needing a single lesson."

"Its just not that way between us Roy you know that….and maybe, ok maybe I did want something along those lines, but Matt is not interested. I can't make someone fall in love me Roy, and according to Robert its not even possible." C.J. turned and started walking back to her office.

Roy didn't stop though, "Don't tell me you are going to let that miserable excuse for a human being make you doubt yourself." Time for some tough love here he thought.

She turned around, "Roy, I know you mean well, but you don't know everything." She folded her arms.

"I know enough, I know you and you have way more fight in you than that. Now, stop feeling sorry for yourself because you think you don't have something, which you actually do have by the way, and pull yourself together and just go get it." Roy continued as he gently took both her arms in his hands.

C.J. was confused at this point but was ready for the conversation to end so she acquiesced. "Ok, I see what you're saying, let me think about it, ok?" That got him to let go of her arms and she went into her office to find that mountain of paperwork Murray promised and she got to work.

He took one last look at her, she seemed upset by something. Good, he thought to himself. He put down the binoculars and looked at the bed and checked to make sure he had all the equipment. Baseball bat, check, a knife, check, rope, check, and condoms, check. He ran his fingers over his little kit. He spent years reading to the public information on the most heinous of crimes and now he would be the aggressor. What was maniac who did this thinking? He had asked himself over and over again, and now, he would be on the other side of that little equation. That poor woman, he didn't even know her, but he needed the practice first, and this would pay back his debt to his friend. Just a few more days.

Matt wondered around the construction site looking for Sid Eastmen. He heard a loud crashing noise to his left as a pile of lumber fell to the ground. It wasn't really close to him, but he was startled none the less.

"What are doing there? You can't be out here without the appropriate safety equipment!" he heard a voice shout to him and turned around and found Mr. Eastmen walking toward him.

"I believe I was looking for you, you are Sid Eastmen right?" Matt said.

"Yea, that's right, what do you want, I'm busy" he shot back, " and I'm not sure you have authorization to be here."

"Well my name's Matt Houston and I was hired by your boss to investigate a theft." He explained.

"Abernathy? Alright well, we have to go in the trailer, come around this way, its not safe out here if you don't know what you're doing." He said as he led Matt into the trailer. "So what did Abernathy lose now? Coffee?" he poured himself a cup out of a dirty looking little coffeemaker and offered a styrofoam cup to Matt.

"No thanks." Matt said as Eastmen turned and sat down at his desk, strewn with blueprints and papers of which some duplicates were pinned to the walls around him. "He lost quite a sum of cash" he said as he studied Eastmen for some kind of reaction, and if Sid was surprised at all, he did a good job keeping that to himself.

"Money huh, well, he certainly isn't spending it here." Eastmen said as he took a drink.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked thinking there was more to his statement.

Eastmen hedged, "I'm just saying this building is getting the bare essentials that's all."

"Essentials like smoke detectors, fire escapes, and plumb wiring?" Matt said as he looked directly at Eastmen.

Eastmen knew what he was getting at and he didn't like Matt's tone, "Of course, all building code regulations are met on every project I oversee. I do not tolerate any shortcuts and my men know that."

"What about the Hope Building, huh? I believe the cause of that fire, the one that took 58 lives, was faulty wiring." Now Matt knew that when he said that Eastmen wasn't going to be happy and he was right.

Eastmen slammed his coffee down on his desk spilling what was left on his papers, "That wasn't me, I didn't authorize those electricians, Zoyer went over my head and subcontracted with them, as I've told the police and now you. Now, I'm busy and you need to leave."

Matt needed just one more thing from him, "Fine, who were the subcontractors? If this was out of your hands, why wouldn't you want people to know who they are?"

"ABC Electric, at least that's what they called themselves then, I can't find them now, and believe me, I've looked." Eastmen said, "Now just go, Mr. Houston, you may think I'm only looking out for myself, but not a day goes by that I don't think about that fire and all those lives."

Matt nodded and then walked back out to his car. He had one more stop to make before heading back to the office.

"I ran into him in a restaurant close to the office." Matt told the exhausted looking Lt. Hoyt.

Hoyt just looked up from his desk where it looked like he was eating antacids for lunch. "I can't arrest the man for eating, Houston."

Matt scratched the back of his neck, clearly frustrated, "Ok then, can we at least get a TRO so he can't get within spitting distance of C.J.? Having those cops around her at all times with that paper would go a long way."

"She'll have to file it, but there may not be much of a need after tomorrow morning." Hoyt said putting the cap back on the antacid bottle.

"What's tomorrow morning?" Matt asked.

Hoyt looked at Matt not knowing if Matt was really going to like what he had to tell him. "Judge Harmago wants to meet with the lawyers, me and C.J. in the morning to hear arguments on the admissibility of the evidence found in Tyler's apartment. He may be recommending disciplinary action for myself and C.J. if he feels we crossed a line." Matt looked infuriated so Hoyt continued with what he considered the good news, "if he rules in our favor, Robert will be back in jail by lunchtime."

"Will Robert be there?" Matt asked trying to reign in his anger.

Hoyt knew Matt already wanted to go out and beat Robert, but that would only get him in trouble. He was pretty sure C.J. kept Matt in the dark about all they found, probably only giving him details on pieces that would lead to Tyler's arrest for kidnapping, so it would surely be best if Matt was not there in the morning when this all came out in the open. "Robert will probably not be there, in fact, I'm pretty sure only those called in directly by the judge are allowed in."

Matt just sighed and then asked one more question, the one that had been on his mind since he stumbled upon that conversation between Hoyt and C.J. "What was it exactly? What did Robert say or do that made you think he was coming straight for C.J.? I know you two are keeping something from me, probably so I won't go off and kill the man. So just tell me, right now, what is it?"


	6. Chapter 6

Hoyt reached for the antacids again. Great, he thought. Well he could give him a summary, just not the details. "He planned to have C.J. killed just before he left for his big network job in New York. We found a journal in his apartment. He even wrote about how he would grieve properly in front of the camera when he was 'told' of her death. Told us he we couldn't read it when we found it, something about his memoirs or something, wanted to be famous."

Matt couldn't believe what he was hearing and he blinked more than once. "You mean he never planned to marry her. She was just a pawn for him!" Matt was really starting to lose it now and he rubbed his brow. All that time, he was playing with her, no using her. And then he planned to have someone take her life away so he could play the grieving fiancée. Matt knew what that felt like and it just fed the anger he held already for this slimy lowlife that toyed with his best friend and then planned to kill her to further his own career. Then his thoughts shifted to how C.J. must have felt when she found out. She didn't tell him, why not? They shared everything, always had.

Matt tried to calm himself down as he asked Hoyt his next question, one he almost feared the answer to, "How did C.J. take that? I mean she knows, right?" Hoyt nodded slightly and Matt continued, "How bad was it? She was embarrassed wasn't she? Probably thought she was a fool or something along those lines?" His heart broke for her as he thought all this through.

"Yea, you could say that. She didn't want you to know Houston because she knows how much you care about her and she really needed you then. By that time Tyler was already arrested and you couldn't have beat him up even if you wanted to. Although I did put him in a tank with a couple of guys I didn't think would be all that civil to him. He may or may not have come out of that holding cell with a few more bruises than he went in with." Hoyt confessed hoping it would show Houston they were still on the same team here and that he cared for C.J. too.

Matt didn't exactly try to fake a smile, but he did nod to Hoyt in a gesture of thanks that at least Robert got something coming to him after what he did.

"Now get out of here and let me get some work done." Hoyt said in that irritated voice of his. "I need to prepare myself for tomorrow morning so I don't get knocked down to meter maid or lower, and I have 3 homicides, 7 robberies and 18 B&Es to deal with."

Matt turned and left, back to the office. As he left his phone in his convertible rang. "This is Houston" he answered.

"Hey Houston, its Chris, you have a delivery here and the man won't leave until you officially sign for it."

"On my way Chris, should be there in 10 minutes. Where's C.J.? She still in her office?" Matt asked.

Chris answered, "No she left, but said she would be back. She wants you to dress in your most comfortable jeans and flannel shirt. She didn't say why, just told me to relay the message."

"Ok….well, like I said I'll be back in a minute, see ya then." Matt said as he replaced the phone. What did she have up her sleeve. He figured she might want to take him out to dinner, they usually did that for each other when one of them got their heart broken, but he never asked her to wear anything specific when he did that for her. It was usually the best restaurant he could find, or fly her to one if need be when she had her heart broken. He merely wanted to her to see that she deserved the best, that she was an amazing woman who should be treated like she was the only person in the world. She certainly made him feel that way when it was his turn to have his heart mended. Her arms around him gave him strength he didn't know he had.

He couldn't believe Robert. How could he have a woman as amazing as C.J. right there in front of him and then plan to take her life away from her, away from him. Matt slammed his fist into the seat beside him. He could just kill Robert.

Matt knew he had arrived too late when he got back after spending that time with his uncle. He had flirted with the idea that he and C.J. could try at least to see where a romantic relationship would lead them. He knew she was beautiful, but he had really thought it best to keep the relationship platonic, and he didn't know how she would feel if he ever did broach the subject. He couldn't lose her, not her. So when she told him she did love him, he was shocked and didn't know exactly how he should respond. How could act on her declaration anyway with bullets flying around them and then discovering she had been shot. Afterward, while waiting in that little room praying she would make it, all he could think of over and over again were those words and the look on her face. The one he stroked just before he threw himself through a window to get her out of there. He didn't want to try to start a relationship on the run.

The timing just wasn't right, he told himself, but he had to know for sure if this thing with Robert was true. So he asked her when he got her alone, "Do you love him?" He couldn't even look at her when he asked. Her response seemed less than certain "I think so" but she covered by saying that she felt that way about most people in her life, since her father died. Matt remembered that too, how forlorn she looked when she came to his school. He found out later that week that she had lost both parents. Come to think of it, he still didn't know exactly what happened to them. C.J. always clams up when they get mentioned and he's never wanted to push her to relive something so tragic that profoundly impacted who she became later in life.

As far as trying again, well, when she broke up with someone, he was dating and vice versa. He thought maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

He made his way up to the penthouse, signed for this package he didn't recognize and changed as instructed. His uncle poured him a drink as he came back up the stairs.

"C.J. here yet?" Matt asked.

"Nope, not yet. I haven't seen her or her two bodyguards since our debate this morning." Roy said as he sipped his juice.

"Debate? You two debated?" Matt said as he sat down with a little smirk on his face, "I know better than to debate with her. What was the issue?"

"You, well actually, you two and why you aren't together, as a couple." Roy said in a very matter of fact way.

Matt almost choked on his drink. "What are you talking about? I just broke off my engagement to Elizabeth, don't you think jumping into another relationship would be a bit rash? And besides, we have never had a relationship like that. You talked to her about this?"

"Yes I did, and don't even act like you don't want to know how she responded either." Roy said as he looked his nephew over good. He knew Matt might get angry, but he was ready for that.

"Well of course I care how she responded. I care about her, but that doesn't mean she or I have a relationship to discuss, at least not in that way." Matt looked more than a little weary now. "And if we did, it would be our business, no one else's" and he looked directly at his uncle when he said that last bit. Then he turned to go to the couch.

"Fine, be just like your Daddy, stubborn as a mule." Roy put his drink down and made his way to the lobby, Matt's eyes following him.

"What do you mean, Uncle Roy? How exactly am I being like Daddy?" Matt inquired.

Roy stopped, "When Bill met Beth he was only 16 years old. She was beautiful, I even made a play for her for a while, but she would have none of it. They were friends for 10 years before he finally got a clue. It was only 1 year after they finally married and declared their love for each other that she was killed in a car accident."

Matt looked down for a minute and then back at Roy who finished his story with what he considered to the morale to it, "all that time wasted when they were in love, such a shame."

With that Roy got in the elevator and headed down. Matt looked back at that package he signed for. It was nothing more than a big envelope with a postmark from Germany. He opened it and his eyes widened when he read it.

Elizabeth had a prenup agreement drawn up before the wedding. He read through it and although some of it was that legalese gibberish he hated so much, he got the gist of it. Elizabeth wanted to make sure none of her family's money went into any charitable foundation. Meaning Houston's charitable foundation. Was he really that blind? Were their values really that different? He supposed so now, how….well, did it matter? She was gone. He closed his eyes and put it down for now. He heard the elevator ding and knew she must be back so he tucked it away by Baby and got up to meet her halfway.

"Good, just like I ordered." She said with a cheery smile on her face. She was wearing her own favorite pair of blue jeans and flannel shirt with her cowboy boots. "Let's go."

He took her by the hand, glad to see her in such good spirits, and said "so where are we off to Mz. Parsons? Or am I being kidnapped?" he said playfully as they made their way to the elevator.

She laughed and he was glad to hear that sound again. "No, you aren't being kidnapped. I just found the perfect place for us to spend a night thinking about nothing but horses and barbeque."

That piqued his interest so he followed right along with her. They got in her car and they talked about the case on the ride over. "So, what did you learn from Eastmen?" she asked.

"Not much, he claims Zoyer went over his head and hired a different electrical company to install the wiring for the Hope Building, some ABC Electrical. We should see if Baby can track that down tomorrow morning." Matt informed her.

C.J. cringed a bit, "I can't do it in the morning Houston, I have a meeting at the courthouse, its about Robert."

Matt still hadn't quite decided if he should tell her right away that he knew about Robert's plan to have her killed. More important, though, was that she knew he was there for her so he replied, "I know, I saw Hoyt earlier and he told me about the meeting. He said you could be disciplined for our sting against Robert. What type of discipline are they talking about? What could he do?"

She sighed…she had hoped they could forget Robert for tonight, but she understood his concern. There was no point in lying anyway, it could be all too real in the morning. "It depends" she said as she pulled into a parking spot at this barbeque place, "if the judge decides I wasn't in my right mind at the time, under undo and excessive stress, then maybe nothing. In fact, if we can convince him that I feared for my own safety at the time and that he is a clear threat now, we might be able to get the judge to deem the evidence from his apartment admissible. If the judge goes the other way, Robert will not only be free, but could go after me, you, and Hoyt for civil damages…"

"He could sue you? For what, setting a trap he willingly walked into?" Matt asked, "what else? I mean legally, what else could the judge do?"

C.J. bit her lip for a second and then looked down, "I could get disbarred. Then I guess I would be no good to you as a legal eagle huh."

Matt reached over to her, putting his hand on her face and tilting it up toward him. He stroked the side of it for a second, brushing away one lone tear off her cheek, and then leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips, and this time he stayed there for more than one second. He only pulled away slightly from her face while he continued to stroke her cheek and said, ever so softly, "You are more to me than my legal eagle, and we will get through this, I promise." She smiled as they broke their embrace. "Come on, let's go see what this place calls 'Texas' barbeque." Matt said as they left the car to go inside.


	7. Chapter 7

C.J. had to put her head down so she could concentrate on breathing for a minute, she was laughing so hard she was almost crying. Just looking at Matt slowly picking himself up off the mat by the mechanical bull, and rubbing his, well you know…which looked almost as wounded as his pride. He walked gingerly back to their table. "C.J. why didn't you tell me that thing could go that fast?"

"Well Houston, I thought for sure after you tamed Gutbuster, this little mechanical thing was no match for you." C.J. came back with and they both broke into laughter.

"Yeah, well, clearly I've lost a step or I'm just getting old. I'm not sure which is worse." Matt said as he reached for his beer. "I am having fun though, I don't think I've laughed so hard and felt so sore at the same time in a while."

C.J. took another drink of her own beer, "Me neither and the barbeque isn't that bad." As soon as she said that she caught the expression on Matt's face and recovered quickly, "Now I know its not real Texas barbeque, but in a pinch I think its just fine. I mean only you can make the real deal in California, I know that." She made a cross my heart gesture and that got another one of those smiles from him that made her suck her breath for a second.

"Ok, so now that I've proven I can withstand pain a lot better than I can withstand the bucking of that bull, what's next?" Matt asked.

"Well, I was thinking we could have a few more beers and maybe head home for the night. Its already midnight, oh, now I'm the one sounding old." She laughed right along with him again.

Matt looked back over in the corner where two new undercover officers were watching C.J. now. "Ok, well, how about I let your bodyguards over there drive us home." He said as he tucked a lose strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear. She loved it when he did that, and his eyes, she could lost in them forever.

"Ok….listen Houston….I had a really great time tonight. I wanted to forget about everything for one night and I thought you needed to do the same. But tomorrow, we need to talk ok? After I get back from the courthouse," she said softly as she put her hand on his cheek this time.

Matt took her hand and looked right in her eyes and told her, "you know if you want me to be there, I can be. Even if they don't let me inside, I want you to know I'm here for you, whatever you need." Then he squeezed her hand and they walked out together.

Later that night, she still found sleep alluding her. She knew Matt needed to recover from losing Elizabeth. He just seemed to be taking her leaving way too well. Maybe there was something she didn't know? She doubted that because they always shared everything…wait…well almost everything. She still hadn't told him all about Robert yet. That would surely come out in the morning, and she would have to relive it again. That was on her mind as she took one last drink of brandy for the night, just to forget and maybe help her sleep.

Robert had been busy himself on this night. He waited until Ms. Mason finally made her way home. The quiet of the darkness almost intoxicated him as he imagined instead it was one C.J. Parsons fumbling with keys to open the front door. He had everything he needed and was already set up for her arrival. The door opened and she reached for the light switch, but the light didn't come on.

"What the…." Martha Mason said as she flipped the switch on and off and on and off to no avail. So she continued in, closed the door and that's when Robert lunged at her, pinning her to the door with his hand over her mouth, in his other hand, a knife.

"Make one sound Ms. Mason and it will be you last" Robert hissed and then he threw her on her dining room table, which collapsed under her.

She was shaken up but tried to scream when Robert got on top of her pulling the rope hard around her head around her mouth so she couldn't scream. Then he tied her wrists together and then punched her hard in the face. That knocked her out and as she lay there he ran his hand across her face, where he had just left that nasty bruise, "Oh yes, C.J. you will feel exactly the same, won't you". He then tore off her clothes, brought her to and then raped her. The rush of adrenalin that ran through him as he did that made him want to do it again, and he did. After as this woman Robert had never even met until tonight shivered in fear and pain, he leaned over and told her he had a message. "Mr. Zoyer misses you."

Her eyes widened out of whatever shock she had been in, but it didn't matter. Robert took his bat and began beating her with it. Zoyer had said he wanted one major bruise for every month he had sat in that jail cell. After she had betrayed him two years ago when they were sleeping together and he accidently let it slip in a heated moment what his plans were to make money on that real estate deal that she then took to the feds. No, Zoyer had waited for this, and no one could suspect him, after all, he was in maximum security. After leaving a sufficient number of bruises, he took out the knife and stabbed her exactly twice, as instructed, before finally delivering the death blow, a rope around her neck that he used to literally squeeze the life out of her. With her death Robert sat up, gathered his things, the gloves, the condoms and the rest of his equipment, wiped everything down he touched the way he was told to and blew Ms. Mason one final kiss goodbye, feeling confident now, he was ready for C.J.

The rain was really coming down this morning. C.J. parked as close as she could to the courthouse, but she still got partially drenched as made her way to the door. She found Hoyt soon enough and before she knew it they were before the judge. Robert wasn't there but 3 of the top lawyers in civil rights and constitutional law were there along with the D.A. Judge Harmago didn't appear to be in a very pleasant mood either.

He walked in, a rather large man in his judge's robe and sat down behind his desk. "Ok, I've read the motions and am ready to hear arguments, but please, I'm a busy man. Let's cut to the chase. No undo rhetoric, ok?"

The 3 defense attorneys almost spoke on top of each other. "Your Honor, our client's civil rights were clearly violated. It's a textbook example of Entrapment. On top of that, our client was video recorded without his consent or even knowledge. Given this blatant attempt to circumvent the U.S. Constitution by Ms. Parsons and Lt. Hoyt, and the willingness to overlook such offenses by the D. A.'s office, we respectfully request that the entire case and all subsequent evidence discovered as a result of such actions be completely thrown out by this court and any changes against our client dismissed."

A second attorney went further, "We also wish to advise the court to reprimand the D.A. working in this case, but most especially Ms. Parsons, as she, acting as an officer of the court, knowing beyond what an ordinary citizen would know about the law, did intend to violate the civil rights of another citizen, that being her ex fiancé Robert Tyler the defendant. We feel she should be permanently disbarred. Given the severity of her actions and the fact that future citizens…." The judge stopped him right there.

"I said arguments, not rhetoric…Ms. Parsons, do you have anything to say on your own behalf." The judge then motioned to her and looked at the other three, basically letting them know whose turn to talk it was.

"Yes, your honor. While it is true I was in a relationship with this particular defendant at the time of the incident, if anything that would have convinced me to try to keep him out of such potentially liable behavior. We were still seeing each other at the time of the arrest. I merely gave him information on the location of a woman he supposedly helped rescue 10 years ago in Pennsylvania after being kidnapped." She tried to explain but got interrupted by Defense attorney 1.

"But you knew your partner, Mr. Matt Houston, P.I. would be waiting at the exact location you have my client." He almost shouted out.

Judge Harmago banged his gavel again, "Let her finish! Or I will throw you out, I think Mr. Tyler can represented by only one attorney, don't you? And I think I can ask these questions myself?" Turning back to C.J. he said, "Go on, but please do address the question as I was wondering myself."

C.J. regained her composure, "Yes your Honor. I was aware that Lt. Hoyt had agreed to allow Mr. Houston and his uncle Roy Houston to use said hotel room to see if Mr. Tyler would arrive. It does appear however, that these three attorneys are assuming that I wanted Rob…..Mr. Tyler to threaten the woman that was the subject of operation. I was in fact dressed to resemble that woman, and I can assure you, I did not want my own life in jeopardy. Unfortunately that was not what happened, Mr. Tyler presented a loaded weapon, one for which he did not have a license or permit for. Any officer, should he have seen Mr. Tyler that afternoon would have discovered that weapon themselves. At that point Mr. Tyler had already broken the law. On top of all that, Lt. Hoyt we believe had enough evidence on Mr. Tyler that a judge would have issued a search warrant anyway. We humbly ask that you review the evidence collected prior to the taped confession before you make a final decision."

Judge Harmago spoke up, "Lt. Hoyt, do you have such evidence that you can present to this court today?"

Hoyt spoke up, "Yes I do your Honor and I would like to make one further request. We would ask the court to hold Mr. Tyler in custody until this all cleared up."

At that point the 3 attorneys in unison objected shouting out, "He's already had his rights violated" and "he's the real victim here" and so on. The judge just began hitting his gavel.

"Hold it! Now Lt. Hoyt, on what grounds do you make this request?" he asked.

Hoyt cleared his throat and the D.A. at this point spoke up, "On the grounds that we believe Mr. Tyler intends to commit two major felonies while he is out, both directed against Ms. Parsons."

Harmago needed clarification, "What felonies exactly and what causes the D.A. to think this?"

Hoyt then spoke up himself after seeing C.J. standing there looking down at the floor not really wanting to relive this, "Rape and murder your Honor. We found a journal…"

Attorney 2 interrupted "a journal found as a result of a faulty search and seizure."

The gavel again…Harmago had just about enough…"So you are saying, Lt. Hoyt that you found a journal that indicated Mr. Tyler planned to commit these crimes against Ms. Parsons." Hoyt nodded, "Given the nature of the discovery of this journal I can't grant an arrest warrant, but I can issue a restraining order against Mr. Tyler. If he doesn't plan to harass or harm Ms. Parsons, then he shouldn't feel it's a violation of his civil rights." At that point the judge looked straight at the 3 lawyers for the defense. "I trust you will thoroughly explain to Mr. Tyler how serious I am about this TRO. He violates it once, he goes back in, are we clear? I'll rule on the admissibility of the evidence next week and determine if there was enough for me to grant a warrant. Adjourned."

The three attorneys nodded and all left the judge's chambers. C.J. walked out with Hoyt right behind her saying something when they saw Matt.

He looked at the three defense attorneys up and down and then walked over to C.J. and Hoyt. "So I gather Robert gets to stay out a little while longer."

C.J. and Hoyt just looked at each other and then she spoke up, "Yes, but only for the next week. I think we convinced the judge, we won a small victory." She said that trying to fake a small smile.

Matt's looked interested, "Oh and what was that?"

"We got the judge to issue a TRO, which means if he comes within 15ft of her, you let _us_ know Houston, and by us I mean the police. He'll go straight to jail if he violates that, the judge was very clear on that." Hoyt explained.

"A piece of paper? You really that will stop him from coming after her?" Matt said, concern all over his face.

Hoyt knew this was coming, but hoped Houston would see reason, "Look I know, but its what we have."

"And I'm losing my babysitters right Hoyt?" C.J. asked looking down at the floor at her shoes.

Hoyt sighed, "Yes, I can't justify the expense now. But I have a feeling Houston isn't going to let you just run around now is he? Look, I've got to go, the office probably already has 20 messages on my desk needing my immediate attention. Catch you later." With that he left.

Matt just looked at C.J., knowing what he did now, his heart just broke again for her. "Come here" he said as he took her in his arms. He rubbed her back for a minute and then finally pulled away. He thought the case might distract her for a while so he brought that up. "One of us needs to go see Judge Newman to try to get some info out of him."

"I don't think I want to see another judge right now, how about I go see Ms. Mason? That should be an easy enough interview." C.J. said hoping Matt would be ok with that. She just wanted to get away from the courthouse right now and she remembered what Seth told her.

Matt looked at her and saw the weariness in her eyes. Maybe getting out and doing this one interview would be good for her. She could get away from the office, where Tyler was lurking around somewhere close, he just knew it, and it didn't involve being in the courthouse for now. "Ok, but be careful. I'll send some security men to catch up with you at her house."

He hugged her one more time and kissed her softly on the lips, she caught her breath. She shouldn't let herself get wrapped up in this although, it was incredibly nice. "Ok, I'll see you back at the office when I'm done." Then she stopped herself and looked him and said, "Interview him here, in the courthouse."

"Why?" Matt looked back at her puzzled.

She had to think of a reason fast, "Judges don't like being interrupted during the day and interrogated by P.I.s, trust me, it will go better if you stay here." Hoping he would buy that.

They parted ways, she ran back out to her car hoping to avoid getting drenched any more than she already was and he headed back in to find this Judge Newman. His interview would be ordinary, hers wouldn't.


	8. Chapter 8

Judge Newman was settling one last case when Matt walked up to one of the bailiffs at the back of the room. "Hey Larry" he said.

"Hey Houston, what have you been up to?" Larry asked back as they shook hands.

"Just need a minute with the judge there…think you could help me with that?" Larry appeared skeptical, "just a minute that's all, I'll be nice."

"Ok look, Newman's got a lunch break in about 20. He likes that Deli stand out front. You hang out there, you might run into him. That's all I can say." Larry said as he looked around to see if anyone else heard. Matt patted him on the back and thanked him.

"One Ruben on rye, hold the dressing….and some of those chips….yea those there…..and a soda…here, keep the change." Judge Newman said and he walked away from the stand.

Matt walked right up to him, "You're Judge Newman aren't you? I thought I recognized you, you've been on tv running for state senator right? Wasn't that just last year?"

Newman looked over at him, a little annoyed that he brought up the loss, but knowing this guy was probably a constituent anyway so he faked a little smile, "Why yes, yes I am. Can't win them all I guess though. Now if you will excuse me, I'm on my lunch break." He turned to walk back in, but Matt stuck with it.

"Boy, you know I was just telling my personal accountant that I really do want to make a difference with all that money I inherited and here you are, a man of vision as it were." Matt knew exactly what this man's vise was, and it wasn't Texas chili.

Newman turned right back around with a smile only a politician could have. "So, you want to make a difference, huh. Sounds like we think alike, why don't you join me in my office and we can talk."

Matt followed him right in. They talked about projects for women's rights, health care, and issues of violence, Matt actually recommending a raise for all police officers and a bonus for the Chief Lt., then Matt decided it was time to get serious and he brought up real estate development and safety issues. Judge Newman's body language and words changed then.

Matt argued as a concerned citizen, not as a P.I. trying to get information from a potentially corrupt judge, "I'm just sayin that fires, like that one I read about in the papers, what was it Faith…no….Hope Building, that could have been avoided right?"

Newman didn't want to discuss this at all and it made that clear, "The fire you are referring to involves a case to appear before my court in the next month. Therefore I am not allowed to discuss it. Now if you don't mind, my court will be in session soon, and I need to prepare. Good day."

Matt left and ran back out to his car to avoid the rain himself and found his phone ringing. When he went to pick it up, he was not ready for what he heard on the other end of the line.

When C.J. pulled up Martha Mason's house it was still raining. She jogged to the door trying in vain to stay dry. She shook off the sleeves of her blouse and knocked on the door, but it creaked open.

"Ms. Mason" C.J. called in. "Are you home, Ms. Mason? My name is C.J. Parsons, I'm…." C.J. gasped as her eyes took in the sight before her. There was so much blood. C.J. felt faint for a moment, but then steeled herself and she crept in further. "Ms. Mason" almost a whisper now. She walked around the dining room, all the furniture was broken and in disarray, but she thought she saw something under the tablecloth. She bent down, and with the edge of her dress, so as to not disturb any potential evidence, she pulled back the tablecloth and found Ms. Mason.

C.J. started hyperventilating….."No, no, no….." The bruises, her clothing torn, the way she was tied, C.J. could feel the evil in the room and then went to run out but fell down in a pool of blood, but she got up and ran out the door, into the pouring rain and she tried to collect herself. Then she thought, what if the monster who did that is still in there, and she ran back to the car to call it in when he tapped on her window.

C.J. screamed and jumped at the same time, but the man opened her door. "Hey, hey, C.J., its me Seth, we have a stakeout going across the street and I saw you come out with what looked like blood all over you, are you ok, where are your hurt?"

C.J. tried to breathe again and looked down at her dress, covered with blood, "No, no I'm fine, but Ms. Mason, she's dead, she's inside, I just found her."

Seth got this look on his face, "Crap…stay here, I'll go check it out." C.J. stayed in her car not knowing exactly what to do next. Should she call Houston? Wait a minute, why was Seth across the street? Were Mason and Newman tied together in some way? She didn't have long to think about it before Seth came back out.

"Look, we need one hour to process the scene ourselves, then you can call it in to the LAPD ok?" he said as he motioned to the house across the street.

"Why? What does the Marshal's Office want with Ms. Mason? Did you have her under surveillance or were you protecting her?" C.J. was trying to connect all these dots and Seth knew it was only so long before she did, so he might as well bring her in now.

"C.J. come across the street and I'll explain everything, but only on the condition that no one else learns what I share with you. I mean no one here, C.J., and that means Houston. Do you understand?" he helped her out of her car and walked her across the street as his men went in to process the scene.

"I don't like lying to Houston, Seth." C.J. wanted that on the table outright.

Seth came back, "Really, so he knows that Tyler basically had the same plan for you that was played out on Ms. Mason over there?"

Ok, now she was shocked. She knew on paper what Robert had planned to do, but was that really what happened to that woman across the street? She started hyperventilating again, Seth walked over to her and put his arms around her telling her, that wasn't her across the street and he would make sure she was safe. His arms did feel nice, but he wasn't Houston and that was who she wanted right then.

"Look, what have you two found out so far?" Seth asked as he got her to finally calm down.

C.J. looked over at him from across this little table in what she guessed was a living room and replied, "not much, I was going to ask her about some deposits she's been receiving for the last 5 months and if she knew anything about her boss' stolen money. He hired us to find $1 million dollars that was missing out of his account for a real estate development project."

Seth seemed to process that, "How much money has she gotten?"

C.J. looked back up, "Almost $1 million dollars actually, it was coming in from an offshore account in the Cayman Islands."

She could see the wheels turning in his head. She had seen that look before, she just told him something that made sense to him and in turn he knew something that would make sense to her, so she played along. "That means something to you doesn't it, I can tell, just like all those hitters could tell when you were going to throw a fast ball."

He looked back over at her and smiled "I didn't think you were paying attention to the game….yes, it does mean something. Zoyer has an offshore account in the Cayman Islands and we have been tracking almost $1 million going out of it over the last 5 months. Mason was a hunch, she tipped us off to Zoyer's illegal activities 2 years ago when, in the heat of the moment, he slipped something incriminating out. We moved her around and paid her well to put her under Abernathy. All of this could get blown out of the water if Zoyer's case gets thrown out, which it comes before Judge Newman in a month."

That registered with C.J. and she spoke up, "Newman was one of the 4 people that had access to Abernathy's account. Zoyer was sending the money to Mason, making it look like she was being paid off, so she would go to jail for the theft, then this $1 million would be reverse deposited and sent back to the Caymans, it goes out of Zoyer's account and then back in. But what about the $1 million stolen from Abernathy? Judge Newman took that as a payment up front for ruling in Zoyer's behalf. Buy then why kill Martha Mason?"

Man, she was good, it took her how long to put it together when he had been working on it for months? He thought to himself. Now to answer her last question….

"Revenge. She came to us remember, while they were sleeping together. There is something else C.J., something that connects you to this whole mess, and that's what you have to keep from Houston."


	9. Chapter 9

Matt picked up the phone on the third ring to a clearly distraught C.J. "Houston, I can't believe this, its so horrible, I can't even believe what I'm seeing."

Matt's heart started beating faster as he tried to calm her down long enough so she could tell him where she was and what was going on while reigning himself in. "C.J. just calm down honey and tell me where you are, what's going on, I will be right there as soon as you tell me."

"I'm at Martha Mason's house, she's been killed Houston, there's blood everywhere, she was stabbed and beaten and strangled, and I don't even know what else." C.J. wasn't exactly acting. When she went back to her car, Seth told her to walk in one more time in case any neighbors saw her and then call for help. But one more look inside brought out a whole new wave of emotions. Before she was shocked, but she hadn't made the connection yet, that what she saw would have been what Houston would have found if Robert had been successful before. At that point she just broke down crying.

"C.J. I'm on my way, I'll call Hoyt as I drive over there. Get back in your car and lock it, get that gun out of your glove box and make sure its loaded" He made one quick call to Hoyt basically giving him an address and that he needed back up now. Then he called C.J. back, "You still ok? Keep talking to me, you aren't getting off this phone until I get there." Matt said as he nearly spun out on the wet street. He couldn't believe she had walked in on that, seeing that, and….no….what if the killer hadn't left? "C.J. are you still with me?"

"Yes, I'm still here, and I don't think anyone is still in there. Wait, I can hear police sirens" she said.

Thank God Matt thought to himself, at least the police were there and she would be safe at least until he got there. "Are they inside yet?"

"Yes, I just sent them in, one of them came out and threw up though…Houston are you close?" she said as he rounded the corner to come down the street she was on. She saw his car and said "I'm getting out now."

He clicked off his phone, brought his car quickly to a halt and then ran up to her. The blood on her dress, it nearly gave him a heart attack when he saw it. The thought that it could be hers just terrified him. After holding her for a minute, dripping wet with rain and blood, he broke their embrace, putting both hands on her face he looked right in her eyes and asked her slowly, "Are you sure you're ok? None of this blood is yours right?" She looked up and nodded just wanting him to hold her again, which he did. They both stood there in the pouring rain holding each other. He was just so glad she was unharmed, but she feared that she may only remain so for so long.

"You're coming home with me tonight, alright, please. This doesn't have anything to do with Robert or whether or not I think you can take care of yourself. You saw something horrible today, and I don't want you to be alone" Matt said calmly after they had both made it back to the penthouse. She really didn't feel like fighting that, in fact it was exactly what she wanted so she nodded her head. "Why don't you go downstairs and take a nice long shower and change ok and then we can get some dinner." He kissed her forehead and watched her go down to the gym.

She has been through so much, he thought to himself. Seeing that today….well…he knew she had been terrified and for one brief moment probably felt completely alone. The idea that the killer could have still been there was what terrified him. The thought that she could have been his next victim….that she….no, his mind stopped him there. That wouldn't happen, it couldn't. He could handle losing anything but her. He poured himself a scotch and looked back over at the folder on the wet bar, the one with the info on the case they were working on. Mason's death made things more confusing, so he thought he'd take it back to the beach house. After C.J. went to sleep he'd pull it out and mull it over.

She got cleaned up and made her way back upstairs, where Houston sat at the wet bar shivering. She still had a towel over her hair so she took it over to him and wrapped it around him. "You're going to catch a nasty cold if you stay wet much longer" she said.

He put his arms around her waist and pulled him closer to him. "I am so glad you're ok" was all he said before he kissed her, nothing too scorching, but nothing that really screamed friendship kiss either. When he broke their embrace he rubbed her arms and involuntarily shivered again.

"Go" she said…"go downstairs and change yourself before you really do get sick. I'm hungry and want to get something to eat, I didn't get lunch before I went see Mason."

Robert couldn't wait anymore. He packed up his new equipment bag and headed over to get one more look. "Ah yes, there you are. All alone my dear? Well, I'll have to fix that. Don't worry it'll be better this time around. I won't work so fast, we'll draw this out all night."

Matt had gone downstairs, but he came back up and found C.J. staring at a photo of Martha Mason on Baby. He walked over to the couch. "Whatch doin?" he said as he rubbed her back.

She looked very contemplative. "Just wanted to remember what she looked like alive. I need to replace the image I have in my head." She said softly.

"Come on, let's go eat." Matt said as he took her hand and they walked out together. They got some burgers to go and headed to the beach house. She always kept a few clothes over there in the spare bedroom he told her was hers. So she went upstairs and changed into some comfortable sweats and sat down on the couch.

He joined her with a couple of cups of hot tea and they started talking. Matt started, "Elizabeth left only a few days ago" C. J. was caught a little off guard by his comment, but thought that maybe he was finally ready to deal with it.

"I know Houston, and like I told you, you will have everything you want someday. Its gonna hurt for a while, but you can get past anything Houston. You're strong. One day you will find a woman that will love you for who you are and it will all fall into place." C.J. told him.

Matt nodded, but needed to add something he didn't quite understand yet, "why is it I don't feel worse? I mean if I really did love her like I thought I did, why isn't it killing me not have her here? It does hurt, but not like I thought it would or keep expecting it to?"

C.J. rubbed his shoulder, "I don't know. Maybe the reality hasn't set in yet. We have been pretty busy since she left. It could be that you know deep down this was the right thing for both of you and have made some kind of peace with that."

Then Matt shocked her, "Maybe I was more in love with what I thought she was and not who she was. I thought these dreams I've had for years were of my soul mate. When I first saw Elizabeth, she seemed to match the woman in those dreams, at least her appearance. I'm tired C.J., I'm tired of seeing one woman after another and not having anything really meaningful with any of them, but Elizabeth turned out nothing like I thought." He looked down then at his coffee mug, "She drew up a prenup and had it sent to the office. It came in yesterday. It was a contract that basically forbade my using any of her money in my charitable foundation. Can you believe that? I've made it part of my life's mission to help others and I almost married a woman that had a legal document drawn up so she wouldn't be lured in to doing the same. How could I be so wrong about one person?" He took another drink of his tea.

C.J. just looked at him in amazement. She had been thinking the same thing about herself. Maybe now it was finally time to tell Matt the truth. "You aren't the only one to think you knew the person you were falling in love with and be wrong. Matt, there is something about Robert I never told you, something I didn't really want to face myself. Somehow saying it out loud makes it all the more real, but you need to know."

Matt interrupted her then, hoping to spare her reliving a piece of this, "I know about Robert's plan to kill you before leaving for New York. Hoyt told me."

She looked at him a little surprised but not entirely shocked. Although, she was pretty sure he didn't know all of it. "What all did he tell you?" she asked just to be sure.

"He told me he planned to have you killed and that he would be sure to grieve well for his studio audience" Matt could barely control his contempt and hatred for Robert in his voice.

Now she knew she had to tell him all of it, but first, getting him to swear to stay put for the night was a requirement. "There is more to it than that, but you have to promise me, you will not confront him now or later at least not in a way that will get you hurt or arrested, can you do that? For me?" she said softly.

Matt knew he wasn't going to like this. She was opening up to him though, and he couldn't let the opportunity pass him by so he rather reluctantly agreed.

All of a sudden there was a knock at the door. C.J. practically jumped off the couch when they heard it. Matt held her arms for a second and told her he'd be right back and then they could finish this. The knock came from a neighbor that needed help tying up his boat. Matt called up to C.J. to let her know where he was going to help this frantic guy out, told her to lock the door behind him and turn on the security system. He had his keys and would disarm it when he got back. After about 2 hours of helping this guy who didn't know one knot from another try to tie up his boat properly, Matt finally headed back inside, only to find C.J. sleeping, curled up on the couch. He gently picked her up and carried her to her room. He pulled the comforter over her and brushed one soft kiss on her forehead before double checking the locks one more time and settling in to his room for the night. His mind still reeling with questions about what more there could possibly be to that story.


	10. Chapter 10

The rain earlier in the day proved only a coming attraction for the severe thunderstorm that would blow in that night. Complete with thunder and lightning, it found its way into C.J.'s dreams.

A flash followed by thunder so loud it shook the beach house, C.J. found herself walking through a maze. It was dark and with each crack of lightning she could see a face coming at her. First it was Robert standing about 10 feet away down this dark hallway that seemed to go on forever, then he was 5 feet away and about three bolts later, he was right in front of her. Then she saw Martha Mason, lying right at her feet. Why couldn't she move, it was like someone had braced her feet to the floor. Robert just laughed and then spit on her face, "I've waited so long for this my love" as he ran his hand from her hair, down her face, and then to her neck.

He smiled and rubbed her neck, "I had this planned all along. You will make such a beautiful corpse and I as the grieving husband, well, I'll cry sufficiently on camera, but don't worry about me too much my dear. I'm sure I'll move on." Then he kissed her as she tried to move something, her arms, her legs, something, but it was like she was paralyzed standing there.

Then he broke the kiss and moved his hand down her blouse and that's when she heard Matt scream "NO!" She turned and saw Matt tied up, bleeding in a room next to the hallway with what looked like a huge glass window between the two of them. Robert then pulled out a gun, aimed it at Matt and fired.

"Nooooooooo" C.J. screamed at the top of her lungs as she sat up in bed. She tried turn on the lamp, but it wouldn't come on, it was so dark, and she started to hyperventilate again.

Matt came running in. "C.J. are you ok? I heard you scream" He said and went right over to her bed, taking her in his arms, and she grabbed on to him shaking uncontrollably. "Its ok, Its alright, I'm right here." He said softly and he stroked her hair. It took about 10 minutes, but finally her heart rate slowed down and she calmed down. He broke their embrace and held one side of her face as he said, "The storm knocked the power out, its not just us, it's the whole block, ok? No one is here and I'm not letting anyone get to you, ever. You hear me?" Then he kissed her again, just a soft brief kiss on the lips. "I'll stay in here as long as you need me. You saw her in your dream didn't you?"

C.J. nodded her head, still unable to speak or let go of Matt just yet.

Matt knew this would happen after what she witnessed today and he was glad he brought her home with him. She moved to side of the bed and motioned for him to lay down. "Please" was all she said. She really was terrified he could tell as he slowly got under the comforter and she laid her head on his chest. They didn't need to talk, he knew what she needed and she knew he would stay and give her that. She and Matt, despite the storm fell asleep and slept better than they had in days, in each others arms.

The morning came too quickly for Matt. He awoke to find C.J. laying peacefully across his still bare chest. He had just drifted off when he heard her blood curling scream. In that split second about 50 thoughts raced through his mind. It's probably a nightmare, what if its not, what if someone broke in, what if Robert is trying something, what if she's hurt already, what is he going to find when he goes in there, what if its too late….. He wasn't even sure he took a single breath between hearing her and pulling her into his arms. But now, she lay peacefully sleeping, so he moved slowly enough so that she could continue in her slumber as he made his way back to his room. He showered and then went downstairs to see what he had in the fridge. A nice breakfast might be just what she needed this morning. He looked out his sliding glass door and saw tree limbs strewn all over the boardwalk. He went to take a closer look and found a couple of boats, including the one he had struggled to tie down the night before almost capsized.

"That was some storm" he said quietly to himself and he walked out on his balcony and then realized all his outdoor furniture was gone. He found it quickly enough, one chair was floating in the water and the table was on the roof of his next door neighbor. He turned to go back inside and started a pot of coffee. He heard the water running upstairs and knew she had gotten up and was getting ready herself.

The water felt good on her shoulders. She felt like there were a million knots on the tops of her shoulders running up to her neck from all the stress of the last few days. She rubbed them under the hot water and closed her eyes. She hadn't slept that well in so long, that is after Matt joined her and held her. It felt so good in his arms and despite how terrified she had been, he gave her a comfort that seemed impossible. He amazed her in his ability to be exactly what she needed when she needed. So, how could she keep something so important from him? She knew what Seth told her and she had vowed to keep the secret from Matt mostly because Seth stressed how vulnerable Matt would be to Newman, potentially costing Matt his life, but it wasn't fair to him. No, he had to know. There was no way she was going through with this plan without him knowing. She just didn't know how to tell him she was going to die.


	11. Chapter 11

The smell of the coffee lured her downstairs. Matt stood at the window looking out at the storm damage with his own cup, but turned around when he heard her coming. "You're up."

C.J. smiled back and Matt caught something in her eyes he didn't quite recognize, "Yep, the coffee smells good. I think I'll help myself."

He walked over to her, "The storm did quite a number on the bay last night, I may be out there all day cleaning up the mess." He bent down and kissed her forehead, then he rubbed her back and asked, "You sleep better after that nightmare?"

She looked up at him, how could she tell him this? "Yes I did, thank you so much for being there for me. You always are, just when I need you. You will never know how much that has always meant to me. Matt, we still need to talk…" with that he took her hand and led her to the couch hoping now they could finish their conversation from the night before. "I know you would do anything for me, but at some point, you may not be able to protect me from everything, and that's ok….." He was already shaking his head, but the phone rang. Matt closed his eyes, not believing the phone was actually ringing, interrupting them again.

"This is Houston" he said, hoping for the first time it was Murray on the phone so he could quickly tell him he'd call him back later and if he complained Matt would threaten not to sign another document for a month if he didn't hang up right then. It wasn't Murray though, it was Hoyt, and it sounded urgent.

"Houston, I need you down at your office now. Someone's called in a bomb threat on your building and its full of employees." Hoyt said from what clearly sounded like a police cb.

Matt rubbed his brow, already getting up off the couch. "We'll call the penthouse and tell Roy to take Chris and get in the chopper and get out and have security alert everyone else via intercom to initiate the evacuation process. Then I'll be right down there."

C.J. looked at him seeing the concern on his face, "What is it? What's going on? Is it the office?"

Matt didn't want to alarm her and he hated leaving her alone, but he wanted her to be safe. "There's been a threat made against the office building itself. Hoyt is down there already. I want you to call Uncle Roy and Chris and tell them to take the chopper and get out. I'll call from the car phone to security and have them initiate the evacuation drill." He could see how worried she was so he walked over to her one last time before he left and put his hand on her shoulder and tried to reassure her, "Its probably a false alarm…we just want to make sure everyone is ok and get the building checked out that's all. Keep the door locked, I have a gun under that coffee table there, if you see Robert don't hesitate to use it, ok?" She nodded and told him to be careful. They kissed one last brief kiss and then he left.

She made her way back to the phone to call Uncle Roy, but it rang first.

"Hello there, listen I need this phone so if you could call Matt Houston back…" she started.

"C.J." she heard Uncle Roy say.

"Roy, I was just about to call you, Matt got a call just a second ago about a bomb threat to the building. Now we want you to take Chris and get in the chopper and get out of there now." She explained.

"C.J. I need your help. Meet me at your house. Come alone. Its important, he's going to kill him." Uncle Roy said, only it sounded broken, like the phone was breaking up.

"Roy? Who? Who is going to kill…." But just then the phone died. What was he talking about? Who was after who and why did he need her to go to her house? Houston, no….she thought. He must have meant Robert. None of this really made sense though, so she grabbed the gun from under the coffee table and headed out to her car, the one in her glove box didn't have any bullets. She was glad Matt had the car towed over from Martha Mason's house. She got in and found that she still had blood dried on the steering wheel. She brushed off any lingering fears she might have and raced off toward her house. Roy needed to clear up what was going on.

Robert turned off the tape recorder as he sat in her living room. She didn't come home last night and he couldn't wait any longer. Being in television he knew how to edit a tape to make someone say whatever he wanted. C.J. would come running, right into his arms, arms just itching kill her.

C.J.'s mind raced as her car raced closer to her house. What Roy said, it made no sense. She tried calling the penthouse just to make sure she hadn't been lured somewhere, but no one answered. Then she decided to call Seth. Maybe he would know more on the bomb threat and she could tell him where she was going. All she got was his voicemail though so she did the best she could with the 1 minute she had. "Seth, its C.J., look something is going on. A bomb threat was called in on Houston's building and then I got a call from his uncle to meet me at my house, that it was urgent and that I needed to come alone. I know this could be a trap, but I am armed. You have the address, please come as soon as you get this." Beep, beep, beep. That was all she could leave, as she pulled up, she noticed Roy's car wasn't there.

Matt raced himself downtown to his office where he found Hoyt along with about 30 other police cars and people all over the parking lot and street. The police barricaded it off just in case and were evacuating floor by floor. Bomb sniffing dogs were already combing the first couple of floors and so far nothing had been detected. "How many people are still inside?" Matt asked as he approached Hoyt.

"We aren't sure yet, we've gone through the first 12 floors so far, but it is taking some time. I'm glad you have so many stair wells, its been a tremendous help in getting people out fast." Hoyt said as he turned to take a slip of paper from an officer. "They're up to the penthouse now, your uncle and Chris are making their way down as we speak." Just then Matt saw Chris and Uncle Roy come out and walk rather quickly over to him.

Matt looked confused and asked his uncle, "Why didn't you take the chopper?"

Roy looked back just as confused, "Why would I do that?"


	12. Chapter 12

Ok, this is probably a setup, C.J. thought to herself. But in broad daylight? Granted there weren't many people home on her street during the day, but still did Robert really think he could attack her during the day and not risk getting caught? Still, last night in the midst of that nightmare, Houston almost lost his life to Robert, what if he planned to go after Matt. She took one last deep breath and checked the gun to make sure it was loaded before she slowly unlocked and opened the door. Holding the gun in front of her, she decided to go on the offensive, "Robert, I know you're here. I'm not afraid of you, in fact when I see you, I'm going to put a bullet right through you." Nothing, not so much as a creak in the floor. She moved in a little further, slowly, careful to keep her breathing in check and slow so she could hear even the slightest movement.

He watched her from behind the door in her bedroom. Come along, my sweet, he thought to himself….just a few more steps.

She could hear her heart beat in her chest. Nothing it seemed was more deafening that the silence in her house at this moment. She looked into the kitchen, nothing there, so she moved more cautiously toward the bedroom. She stopped at the door for a moment and then proceeded into the room. She didn't see him behind her. If she had, maybe she could have stopped him.

"What do you mean why didn't you take the chopper? Wouldn't that have been the most direct route off the building?" Matt asked his uncle clearly irritated. I mean he knew his uncle would second guess him from time to time, but seriously, this was a dangerous situation, he should have listened.

"Sorry boy, I didn't think about the chopper, don't get on me like I'm the nephew here." Roy shot back, he didn't get on Matt very often, but he was more than irritated that Matt assumed he should have thought of something he didn't. Besides everyone was fine now anyway so what seriously was his problem?

"C.J. called you, I know she did, so why didn't you do what I asked that's all? This could have been a very dangerous situation." Matt said.

Hoyt walked over and interrupted, "Well, it looks like it was all just a false alarm. The dogs didn't find anything and bomb squad guys are convinced there is nothing here. Guess it was someone's idea of a bad joke." He said as he rubbed his neck.

Roy spoke up then, "Matt, when did you say C.J. called me?"

Matt looked back over at his uncle and suddenly something didn't feel right, "She was calling you when I left her at the beach house." Hoyt caught the look in both Matt and Roy's eyes and caught his own breath for a second.

"I never got a call Matlock." Was all Roy said, and then they knew. The bomb scare was a ruse to get C.J. alone.

He seemingly came out of nowhere. Before she knew it, he had knocked the gun out of her hand and had her pinned to the bed. "Yes, yes, yes…." He said as he held her wrists together with one hand and felt her up with the other. She used a couple of moves Matt taught her for self-defense and probably broke his nose, but then he punched her. She fought so hard not to black out. She had another gun, she thought to herself, its in this room, in the drawer, just…have…to…get….to…it…she thought as she struggled with Robert on that bed, trying to remain calm and focus on what would be his weak points and her strong ones.

"Yes, go ahead and fight me" he snarled as he punched her again, "it will make this a lot more fun. For me that is" and he twisted her wrist until it felt like it was going to break. Then he took the rope he had on his back and wrapped it around her wrists, so tight they started to bleed. He picked her up under her arms and threw her against the headboard. She saw more stars and started to feel nauseous. He wiped the blood from his nose and smiled at her. That's when he pulled the knife out and played with it for a minute before looking back at her. "No, don't worry, I'm not going to plunge this into your beautiful skin yet, I want you awake and fully aware of what I'm about to do with you. Its just been so long you see….since I've been with a woman. Well, other than Martha, you know her, Martha Mason….she was absolutely delicious, but a poor stand in for you."

At that revelation C.J. almost fell into shock, oh my god, she thought to herself….that was Robert….he was the one that killed her….and now he plans to do the same to me…. She screamed out in her mind "Houston!"

"Matlock slow down!" his uncle cried as he held on for dear life in Matt's convertible.

"I've got to get to her Uncle Roy….he plans to kill her, he always did, even when he pretended to love her and asked her to marry him….he was using her….he just wanted to be famous." Matt played out in his mind all the things she could be going through at exactly that moment but had to push some of those scenarios out of his mind. He had no idea what Robert wanted to do to her other than kill her in some way. Matt knew it would only take one bullet if Robert wanted to kill her quick before he got back. No, just no, it couldn't come to that….he was stomping on the gas pedal trying in vain to make it go faster. He just knew something had happened though, he could feel it. He tried to push any potential tears from forming for now, because there was still time, there had to be. Somewhere deep in his gut though, he felt the voice telling him _you may not be able to protect me from everything, and that's ok._ But it wasn't ok to him….losing her wasn't an option.

He started to rip off her shirt when her phone rang and it caused him to stop. He looked over at it and she watched him. He sighed, "Couldn't he wait, I'm not even halfway done with you yet." He got off her and answered the phone. She thought to herself, he called someone from my home, that's good, they can trace that later and connect him to whoever is on the other end of that line. She tried slowly to maneuver her hands in the rope that were now tied to the headboard, the gun, it was just in the drawer, she just had to get to it.

"I told you…" Robert yelled into the phone… "I have one little task of my own to complete and then I'll get you the rest of the information! She's the only that's made the connection between you two, so I'm doing us both a favor. Now judge, trust me, Drayton does and I've proven myself more than loyal….yes, I'm doing it in a different order….now I have to get back..." he looked at C.J. "my lady is waiting."

Judge, she thought to herself….it had to be Judge Newman. She wasn't the only one to make the connection though. Seth, wait a minute, that's right, she called him. Plus, he might have the judge's phone tapped. Surely Seth would come to her aid. She just needed to hang on a little longer.

"Go, go, go!" Seth shouted to the agent driving the car as they ran a red light. He got the voicemail after hearing Judge Newman's taped phone conversation. They had been tracking calls coming in and out of his office all day to this general neighborhood, but when he heard C.J.'s message, he knew exactly where to go. Tyler made it sound like he already had her injured and he knew his plan.


	13. Chapter 13

Matt noticed her car was gone and got a lump in his throat. If she wasn't at the beach house and didn't leave a note, how would he find her? He ran inside and looked frantically for something, some indication as to where she went and why. The folder caught his eye, the one with the notations on Robert he got from Cummings.

Hoyt came running in behind Roy, "Matlock Houston, do you know how many near accidents you had back there. I understand the situation, but going 100mph in a 30 is not acceptable." Matt was too busy scanning the papers though. "Where did you get that?" Hoyt asked recognizing what Houston was holding.

"It doesn't matter, I need something, any hint as to where he would take her." Matt said but he was barely audible. He was concentrating so hard, but trying to keep the ugly thoughts at bay….what was happening to her? Then he saw the words again and suddenly it started to make sense, but as he closed his eyes, he prayed so hard he was wrong. He turned to Hoyt and looked up at him. Hoyt then knew Houston made a connection as Matt stammered out, "Rape….he wants to rape her first right, then kill her….that was his plan all along."

Roy stood there stunned, and it took a lot to do that to the seasoned operative. Hoyt looked up at the ceiling and then back at Matt. He had never seen him look quite like he did at that moment. The only word to describe it was, terrified.

"Yes, that journal I told you about was very detailed. He planned to have her beaten first, then raped, and then strangled." Hoyt said each word slowly, trying not get choked up himself and softly.

Matt's eyes just closed and he felt the first tear go down his cheek. "Where? Did the journal say where this was supposed to take place?" Matt could almost see a light bulb come on over Hoyt as he suddenly had this revelation.

"Her house" he said and all three men ran out praying they weren't going to be too late.

Robert jumped back on the bed, taking the rope again he snarled "Let's have a little fun first shall we?" as he wrapped it around her neck and began pulling. She couldn't breathe…oh no…don't hyperventilate…just get your hand free…no, no, no…. have…to…breathe….that was the last thought, before it all went dark. Then she felt herself waking up, Robert still over her like a bad dream… "Nuh, uh, uh…"he said "we aren't done yet" and he pulled again and she panicked again…he was torturing her…and she felt herself blackout again. Then she woke up again, but everything this time was in a haze. She felt pain, a sharp pain in her side and she heard voices.

"She needs it, just trust me. Leave those ropes on, it needs to look this way when they find her or he won't believe it." She heard the voice, but it wasn't Robert. Her vision was so fuzzy that she couldn't exactly make out the face, but she recognized the voice.

"Seth?" she whispered and he walked over to her.

"Yes, C.J. trust me, I'm sorry, but we have to do this now." He told her and then she felt another pain, something like an insect sting on her foot. "Just lay back and relax, it will all be over soon" and then her world went completely black.

Hoyt called in a report of possible shots fired at C.J.'s house to get men over there quickly and by the time he, Matt and Roy got there from the beach house, detectives were already on the scene.

Matt swallowed hard when he saw the Medical Examiner's van drive away. Surely that meant she killed Robert. He knew the gun was gone from his beach house, she must have used it, he told himself, but something deep inside him told him to brace himself.

He ran to the door and officers blocked his path. He tried to break through them, shouting for C.J., and Hoyt rushed up, flashed his badge and the three went in. Everything looked fine in the house, until they got to the bedroom. Matt stood at the door, tears filling his eyes. "Where is she?" was all he could say.

"Hey, what's he doing in here, we aren't finished processing this yet," one detective said looking over to Hoyt who looked about to cry himself. Roy stayed in the living room looking at pictures of C.J. smiling. Something told him not to go in there with the other two. If this was bad, if it was the worst, he didn't want to remember her like that….he took a picture of her, Roy and Matt and held it as he wept.

"You didn't answer me! Where is she!" Matt shouted as Hoyt held him back from going in the room. Matt looked back at the bed, there was blood all over it, and ropes tied around the headboard.

The detective looked at Hoyt, "she's back at the office sir," in a very grim tone and Hoyt knew what that meant. Her body had been taken down to the medical examiner for processing.

Hoyt looked over at Matt, whose breathing had gone ragged now. He knew he had to get him out of there. "Come on, lets go, there's nothing we can do here to help her."

Matt looked at the Lt., "Then take me to her, now."

"Houston, I don't think…" Hoyt needed to tell him that he may not want to see her in whatever shape she was in right then, but he didn't get all the words out.

"I don't care….I need to see her. She needs me." Matt was insistent, tears were just rolling down his face.

Hoyt knew Matt wouldn't rest, so he took him by the arm and found Roy in the living room and said quietly, "We're going back down to the station." He motioned over to a couple of officers, "Help Mr. Houston and his uncle out to my car, I have a phone call to make and I'll be right out." Once the Houstons had left, he called the M.E.'s office. "Mack, its Hoyt….that….body….that just came in, the female….process it for evidence fast, I have the family coming in now to identify….yes I said now…..I know its not standard procedure" he said as the tears starting coming out, "this isn't a standard murder….its C.J. Parsons, you know her don't you?...Matt Houston needs to see her…..yea, that might not be a bad idea, I know we keep those sedatives for spouses, but I don't know of two people who were closer to each other than the two of them….thanks, like I said, we're on our way." He looked out the window, Matt just stared at her house as the officer was trying to get him to get in the car. He hoped he would survive this, even if C.J. didn't.


	14. Chapter 14

The door to the coroner's office looked so cold. Matt stood there, he looked so lost. Hoyt had gone in to see if C.J. was indeed there and if he could go in. His eyes went down to the floor and he closed them. How? How could this be happening? Not 24 hours ago he was holding her. He never told her he loved her back but he did tell her he wouldn't let anyone get to her, he just kept saying over and over "Please don't let her be in there…Please" praying she wasn't in that room. This was truly it. It hurt, it hurt so bad…it went way beyond an emotional pain, it was a physical pain in his chest. He almost wished his heart would stop. Hoyt came out and motioned to him. "Are you ready?" he asked. All Matt could do was nod.

The room not only looked cold, but all these instruments, saws and knives. For a second he thought, he just needed to grab her and get her out of there before they hurt her. But he closed his eyes trying to take in the reality of what had happened, still praying everyone was wrong but Hoyt led him over to a cold steel table with a body under a thin white blanket. Hoyt pulled it back and there she was, the love of his life, his best friend…

"No!" he cried out as he reached out her, pulling her hair away from her face, the bruises so fresh and her neck, he could see the ligature marks. He took her body in his arms, holding her as close to him as he could, praying she would just wake up "Oh, C.J! CJ! Please!" he kept crying out as he willed her to begin breathing again…she didn't feel that cold, maybe, just maybe, but Hoyt, the Coroner and another man were pulling him off her. "No, let me go! She's still alive, I know she's still alive" he was screaming as they forced him to release her.

Hoyt grabbed him and handed him her wrist. "Feel there, there's no pulse…Houston." Matt did frantically try to feel for something. "And the sheet isn't moving, she's not breathing" Hoyt said through his own tears. Matt looked back at the sheet. Hoyt was right, it wasn't moving. He held on to her hand with both of his, rubbing it harder than he ever had before, tears streaming off his face "No C.J. No" he barely said through them. Then Matt felt something, a prick. The other man who was holding him back from her with _Seth_ on his name badge told him to just relax and he felt himself get tired all of a sudden. Hoyt and the two men tried to take Matt upstairs. But Matt was still trying to fight them to get back to where she lay, "C.J., C.J." he tried to yell only it was faint. In the Lt.'s office where Roy was waiting to take him home, he had decided his own home was the only place they could really go. C.J.'s memory was too fresh everywhere else.

After they left Seth walked over and checked the I.V. hidden under the table. He and another man rolled her stretcher out to the back of the building, careful to make sure everything attached to her remained that way and then they left to go to the safe house. He had seen husbands lose their wives before, but what Matt just displayed was beyond anything he had ever seen before and he knew when C.J. woke up, she was going to have a few words for him for letting it go this far.

Back at his apartment Robert was livid. He started throwing things. It was all going so well…he was choking her and bringing her back to and choking her and then he stabbed her once in the side, not even that far, just enough for a little blood flow, ok a lot of blood flow, so he could show her, her own blood….only another hour of choking her and the rape was next and then the beating…but no. He heard the car tires and knew someone else showed up before he could finish. She might have died already, it just wasn't the same though. He wanted it to hurt a lot more and take a lot longer.

Suddenly Robert heard someone in his apartment and turned around to see Judge Newman holding a gun. "Ouch that looks like that hurts," he said referring to Robert's nose.

"Here is the information you wanted…I found it in her purse when I had her out cold. I told you I could handle this so put the gun down." Robert said as he handed the judge the papers and then put his hands up.

Judge Newman took the paper and looked it over, "Did she say anything specific to you about ABC Electric? Does she know about my financial connection to Drayton Zoyer?"

Robert kept his hands up, "No she didn't. Like I said, she was the only one who had made that connection. No one else knows that ABC Electric was owned by you or that you and Zoyer have been in business for years now. You can take that money now and invest it in your campaign for state senator. I will be vindicated in the court system, right? And return to tv bigger than ever." Robert was clearly hoping he was convincing Judge Newman how everybody won in this operation so he would put the gun down. "I will of course, endorse your campaign and that should all but assure your victory. I'm not even asking that much in return, just your availability."

The judge just looked him over, "But you made one key mistake Robert…you phoned me repeatedly from her house. That ties me to her death. However, if they find you dead, here, in your apartment," Robert started to sweat, "especially with a gun registered to one, Matt Houston, then I can claim those calls were a blatant attempt to try to thwart my running for senator by people wanting to accuse me of a heinous crime." He looked thoughtfully at the gun he still had in his hand. "That case was so long ago when they confiscated his gun, Vince Novelli should have made sure he got it back, and I'm sure Houston's forgotten all about it now." He got that politician smile on his face again and he took the safety off the gun and pointed it directly at Robert, "I do want to thank you for your support, even going so far as to demonstrate the rage Mr. Houston must have felt as he threw around your belongings before finally giving in to his baser passions doing this."

Then he fired and with that one shot Robert Tyler fell down dead. The judge then wiped the prints off the gun thoroughly and calmly walked out of the apartment, going out the back way. He knew exactly what to do, he's done it before, and the death of one C.J. Parsons just took care of his two other problems, at least that's what he thought.

The sedative that guy gave Matt knocked him out, it didn't just make him tired. So Matt passed out on a bench in the interrogation room, they didn't make it all the way to Hoyt's office. Hoyt told Roy to go get something to eat and he would keep an eye on Matt. It would be easy to watch Houston as that room had a camera with a link to a tv in Hoyt's office. All Hoyt had to do to get the monitor on was push record on the camera. Hoyt looked over some files on his desk, but his heart just wasn't in it today. Seeing C.J. like that downstairs in that room…well…he had seen his fair share of bodies before, young lives ripped away at the hands of some evil entity still out there, but this was different. She was his friend too. He thought back to when Houston had gone off to Cambodia to rescue his cousin and he and C.J. worked as a team to get them home. He would never forget the way she took care of Anne, his wife, when their daughter went missing, or the times she snuck in some food for him in the hospital when he was injured helping Houston on a case. He chuckled as he remembered her bringing him a healthy little vegetarian wrap when he asked for a breakfast taco with extra peppers, and she had him fooled until he took that first bite. Dirty trick, he told her, and she just laughed and said, at least I got one good healthy bite in you.

When he found that journal he didn't know if he should show her or not, but she was so insistent, wanting to make sure that the case against him was solid, she needed to see any evidence so she could assess its credibility in court. Usually her and Matt remained on the sidelines once they handed over any potential evidence to Hoyt, but this was too personal she said.

He remembered watching her drop to the floor as she read it, he thought she had started to faint, but motioned to him that she was ok, just in shock. He helped her anyway to a chair as she looked up to him and said, How? How could I be so wrong about one person? Turning her eyes back to the pages and then to the floor she had mumbled, I'm such a fool, how could I not see this? How could I be so stupid? He put his hands on her arms and looked back at her and told her it wasn't her, that this was just one evil man who had conned an entire city nightly that he was a stand up guy, and when he tried to tell her that Houston would make sure he kept her safe she stopped him right there and made clear that he could never know about this. She loved him so much, Hoyt thought as he remembered back to that conversation, she would do anything to protect him, even if it meant dealing with something like this alone, just so Houston wouldn't go off and get himself in trouble.

Hoyt looked back at the monitor as Houston lay on that bench like couch, tears still coming even in his slumber. He put the files back down and decided to get himself a cup of bad coffee from the machine at the end of the hallway. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Roy who hadn't left yet, just sitting on a chair looking at a picture he held in his hand, running his thumb over the middle of it. "Roy, you ok?" he asked.

Roy just kept staring, "I remember when we took this. C.J. and Matlock had just gotten back off that boat of his and were carrying a whole bucket of fish for dinner, enough to last a week I told them. I asked who caught the most and my nephew just looked C.J. who had the biggest smile on her face and said he lost count and didn't remember, but it was clear she won their little contest. I told them we needed to capture the moment for posterity, the first of an annual competition. A nice young lady walking by took this picture for us. I knew…" he said tearing up and his voice breaking, "I knew they should be together, and I tried to tell them, both of them, before it was too late…but now, now…" was all he said before he broke down completely.

Hoyt put his arm around him as Roy had done when they thought Hoyt's daughter had been killed, C.J. was like a daughter to Roy and Hoyt knew what he was feeling. He wished himself, more than anything, that he could have figured out what Tyler was doing before he got to her. He was the chief lieutenant, he was the one responsible for every citizen's safety and he let her down. As he held Roy he wept himself.


	15. Chapter 15

C.J. started to come to, it was hard though. She had never felt so drugged up in her life. Robert was gone, she knew that, but nothing around her looked familiar. She could barely move her head, and forget about moving anything else. Her arms and legs felt like they were made of lead. Her head hurt, her side hurt and she could only make out faint sounds, like a tv was on in the next room or something.

"You're finally coming to, that's such a relief. I was worried there for a second" she heard Seth say as she tried to focus her eyes on him standing over her. "Don't try to move too much, you were stabbed, but not too deep, we were able to put stitches in to repair it, the knife didn't actually hit anything other than the little fatty tissue you actually have and maybe a muscle or two. We have David here who is our resident EMT and he's been taking care of you."

The light hurt her eyes and she squinted, her mouth never felt so dry either and she tried to lick her lips, "What hap…." was all she could get out as she tried to swallow.

Seth took a wet washcloth and put it to her lips and she put them around it, which helped, a little. "We had to initiate our plan a little earlier than we anticipated. I rushed as fast as I could to your house when I got your message." He looked away for a minute, "we found you tied to your bed with a rope around your neck" he looked back at her, "I was afraid we might have been too late. But you still had a pulse, you were still fighting in there to live, so David here assessed the injuries and determined we could still go through with our operation safely. He took that toxin we discussed and injected it between your toes so it wouldn't be discovered right away. Look, I stayed with you the entire time, making sure that the toxin only suppressed you vital signs. As soon as we could, we got you here and gave you the remedy. You will probably feel wiped out though for the next couple of hours, but then you should be fine. David's not going anywhere, trust me," he said with a little smile on his face. "Just relax and rest for now, its been a rough day for you."

"Hou…" she got out, but that was all she could get out, her mouth felt like it had cotton balls and novicane in it.

Seth sighed, knowing she wasn't going to be happy with him when he told her Houston was still not clued in to what they had done. If he knew C.J., and he thought he did, she was going to tear into him like nobody's business for letting one Matt Houston think she was dead for this long. He still couldn't shake what he witnessed earlier when he saw her body and broke apart the way he did. If C.J. had any inkling as to what had transpired in that coroner's office, she might just physically harm Seth. That almost made him chuckle, until looked back down at her. No, he had to lie for a little while, she needed to let the remedy kick in good before she tried to move too much. So he lied, "I told him just after he arrived on scene and he agreed this was what was best to protect you. He said he could definitely appear grieving because if anything did actually happen to you, he would all but lose his mind."

With that, knowing that Houston wasn't living in some kind of nightmare, C.J. relaxed and drifted off to sleep for just a little while longer. She just couldn't wait until Houston held her again.

Matt woke up alone in that interrogation room. His last thought was of C.J. and that was his first thought now, as everything came at him so fast he couldn't stand it. He sat up and within seconds Hoyt and Roy were in the room with him, asking him if he was ok. How could they even ask that? Of course he wasn't ok? He looked up at them and said he had to go. Roy and Hoyt just looked at each other. Hoyt spoke up first, "You can't just walk out of here Houston, you can't drive. You were given a sedative, let Roy here take you home."

"Come on boy" Roy said softly and he tried to help Matt up.

Matt pushed his arms away, "I don't need help getting up, and I'm not going home. If you want to help me, take me to the office. I've got to find Robert."

Hoyt and Roy both knew this was coming. They both worried silently that Matt would wake up, take off, and kill Robert with his bare hands. Matt was always protective of his friends, but C.J. was different. Anyone who came after her always ended up in the hospital before he arrived at jail, that is if Matt had anything to do with their capture. However, Robert was already dead. A police cruiser had been flagged down by a frantic woman who swore she heard gunshots and the two beat cops went in and found Robert dead by a single gunshot wound. The gun remained at the scene. Hoyt had declined actually going over to the scene and sent out his best detectives to process everything. They had finished C.J. home already. "Never a dull moment" one of them said as they left. Hoyt's last call had been made to the M.E.'s office downstairs that Tyler's body not come anywhere near C.J.'s Even if both had died, he didn't want that man anywhere near her. The coroner said something about doing the best he could, but he had a lot to process between the homicides and natural deaths from the hospital, and she wasn't out on a table right now.

Hoyt sat down by Matt and simply told him, "Houston, Robert is dead. We found him about an hour ago. The place was turned upside down, robbery maybe, we don't know. Killer left the gun at the scene and the boys are processing it right now." Matt looked down, he seemed even more crushed, and frustrated, pounding his fist on the bench. " I don't know if this will bring any peace to you or not, but at least its over. He can't hurt anyone anymore."

Roy sat down on the other side of Matt and put his arm around him, "Come on let's go home, we have some arrangements we need to make. These are the last things we can do for her now," he said softly.

Matt felt the tears again, "I want nothing but the best, I don't care how much it costs…the best." He was choking up again at the reality that he was going to have bury C.J.

They helped him to his feet and helped him to Roy's car. Roy had called the attendant at Houston's building and asked him to drive it over. They got in as Hoyt said one more goodbye, telling Roy to call him if he needed anything. Hoyt went back in, took the tape out of Matt sleeping and just threw it in his desk drawer. He didn't feel like erasing it yet. He just wanted to go home after this miserable day.

Matt and Roy didn't go back to Roy's house. Matt insisted that they go back to the office. People needed to be told, and he needed a drink, maybe a bottle he thought to himself. He just couldn't take this pain. Roy agreed that Chris and Murray especially needed to know what happened, they shouldn't hear this on the news.

They rode the elevator up and Matt could barely stand, still feeling the effects of that drug. When the door opened Chris and Murray were there waiting. Roy had called on his car phone as they drove in silence and said to be there. One look at Matt and both knew something horrible had happened, and they both knew it had to have happened to C.J.

Matt didn't say anything, he walked right past them to the bar. He couldn't say it. That would make it real. So he took the bottle of whiskey and took a drink straight from it. Roy watched him slowly walk in and then turned to Chris and Murray who were both already on the verge of tears and stammered out what happened as best he could. "The bomb scare this morning wasn't just a hoax, it was part of a plan by Robert Tyler to get our C…..J…" he started breaking down and then caught himself. "C.J. alone" both Chris and Murray looked at the floor, breathing a little harder, each praying Roy was about to say she was hurt but recovering in the hospital. Roy continued, "We ran back to her as fast as we could, but it was too late, we were too late. She.." he stammered, "sh…she's gone."

"No, just no" Chris cried out softly as Roy and Murray both put their arms around her. They all were crying, "how did he get out, I don't understand, he should have been in jail forever."

Roy tried to compose himself but all he got out was "Legal technicality", he took a few more breaths. "It doesn't matter now though, Tyler is dead. Someone killed him not long after he left her."

Murray said "good" before he could even think it through. He never would be one to advocate violence, but that man took away a friend he shared many a lunch with. She was not only funny and pretty, but smart as could be and in the past he had loved it when Matt got too busy to take her to lunch and left her with him.

Matt had already drank half the bottle of whiskey. He picked it up and walked slowly over to her office. He opened the door and just stood there for a minute. Her coffee cup was still on her desk, half filled. Her jacket was on the hat rack on the other side of the room behind the other door. He walked in slowly and put the bottle on her desk as he looked over the papers that sat there. Two piles, one with her signature, and one without. He ran his hand over the paper on top with her signed name, thinking her hand had just been there not that long ago. He saw that her bottom desk drawer was partially open. That must have been one of the last things she touched before she left that night. He opened it and found a stack of what looked like journals. Some were leather and a couple had a fabric or tapestry print on the cover and the ones on the bottom of the stack looked a lot older than the one on top.

Matt sat down in her chair. He caught a whiff of her perfume when he did and it caused him to catch his breath. He blinked several times as he sat there and slowly pulled out the journals.

Roy walked in, just then. "What you got there?" he asked.

Matt didn't really look up, he just said, "I'm not sure yet. Look, Uncle Roy, I know you want to help, but I need to be alone right now. Just ask Chris and Murray to tell everyone they have the day off. Today and tomorrow, ok? She is….was….the heart of this company. I want them to take the day to remember her."

Roy just looked back at him and simply said, "Whatever you say…but about you being alone. Matlock, you can't go through this alone."

Matt looked straight at him, "I've always had someone help me through difficult times, I know how to lean on someone when I can barely stand up, but she's not here right now!" he said as the anger started to come out along with more tears. He looked back down at the journals, "this is the closest thing I have to her actually being here so let me do this alone, please."

Murray came up behind Roy and said, "come on, let's go. He needs this right now. I can handle the announcement to the employees, I'll go down and tell each floor personally as I direct them to leave for the day and tomorrow. If you need any help with….arrangements….let me know. I want to help in any way I can."

Chris came up at the same time and despite her tears she choked out a "I want to help too…even if its something like picking out her favorite dress…I know which one…" she broke down again though. Murray put his arm around her and the three of them left Matt in C.J.'s office.


	16. Chapter 16

Hoyt looked up as his finest detective Jacob Warren walked in with a very serious look on his face and a folder. "Sir, we have a problem, we may have stumbled onto something big."

Hoyt blinked, what now he thought, all he wanted to do was go home and tell Anne about C.J. before she heard about it on the news. The media was already gathering outside. "What is it? The Parson's case or Tyler?"

The detective took a deep breath, "Both…it appears Matt Houston killed Robert Tyler."

Hoyt stood up, "What?" his voice betraying his anger. "Houston is innocent, he was with us the entire afternoon" Hoyt thought quickly enough and pulled the tape out of his drawer, "I have ironclad evidence right here."

Det. Warren said softly , "I know, the whole department knows." Then he opened the file and stood beside Hoyt as he read off the results, "It's a frame, the gun we found in Tyler's apartment and confirmed as the murder weapon was registered to Houston. It was confiscated two years ago in a case involving the death of a young female jockey. But here is what's interesting," he said as he flipped the page. "The paperwork and files on that case were reported missing day before yesterday."

"Missing? How does a file and evidence go missing?" Hoyt asked more than a little angry.

Warren looked at him then and explained, "When I asked Cummings to get me the case file and evidence, he hedged, I could tell something was wrong. He said he got a call that his wife was injured in a car accident and started to leave his post without even thinking, just locking up behind him, but then he ran into her in the lobby bringing him some lunch. She brought it in because it was real Texas chili and it was his one weakness, something like that. Anyway, confused he went back to the evidence locker and saw man hurry past him with a large bag. He recognized the man but didn't know anything was missing right away and didn't know if he should say anything major because of who the man was, so he just filed a missing evidence report."

Hoyt immediately asked, "well, who was the man?"

Warren took another deep breath, "Judge Raymond Newman"

C.J. woke up again, feeling a little better but groggy. She sat up, but it took some doing and her head, man it hurt. She blinked and Seth walked back over to her with a styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand. "Feeling better?" he asked.

C.J. licked her lips again which were still dry, blinked again and said, "A little I guess. What's going on? Where am I?" she asked.

Looking around, she thought she had been here before. Then she remembered, she was in the house across the street from Martha Mason's house. She was on the lone couch in what must have been intended to be the living room, on the other side was folding table with electronic equipment on it with a couple of folding chairs. In the corner a small tv running the news. "What time is it?" she asked.

Seth sat down beside her, "Its 11pm, we were just winding down for the day, there's not much of a bedroom, but there are cots upstairs in the rooms, so you can sleep there. We just wanted you down here where David could keep an eye on you."

C.J. rubbed her neck, it still hurt with rope burns from where Robert had tried to strangle her. "What about Robert?" she asked.

Seth nodded his head, he heard the news of his death earlier as the media tried to play it off as some love triangle. C.J. would probably take each station down in court for libel when she found out what they accused Houston of doing. He was happy to tell her this bit of good news, just not every detail as he knew Judge Newman was behind this somehow. "He's dead, someone shot him earlier today. Media says it was Houston.." her eyes shot up at him, "but we know it wasn't him. I have a contact in LAPD and they confirmed Houston was in the department office at the time of the murder, so there is no way he can be the shooter."

C.J. breathed a sigh of relief. "I need to talk to Matt," she said.

Seth shook his head, "No, not right now. Look I know you want to reassure him you're alright, but it would jeopardize your safety. If Newman knows you are still alive, then that blows his whole plan out of the water and we don't know how he'd react, he'd be desperate. We think we can tie him to at least a dozen murders, and I personally think he committed at least 8 of them himself. He's dangerous C.J. Its best if he thinks you are dead. Houston understands this, you need to also." Seth looked over at her and felt sorry for her, after everything this was a horrible day. "Why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep. David and I will be down here if you need anything. We only go out to walk the perimeter, but come right back in, ok, maybe after smoking a cigarette in the back for a minute or two, but you won't be alone."

David walked over with some medical equipment and asked Seth to move. "I just need to check her vitals one more time and then she can go," he said as he put on the blood pressure cuff. He took it, wrote down some numbers, took her temperature, recorded that and then helped her up to the room upstairs where she tried to sleep.

Judge Newman slept well that night, confident in the knowledge that all of the threats to his lucrative business were put to bed. He even chuckled at the little pun he made in his head. Tomorrow was the day to start bringing this all to a close. He had arranged earlier in the day, just before closing time as it were, to expedite the Zoyer trial. Drayton had been moved to the county jail and would appear before him in the morning where Newman just knew the evidence against him wouldn't be sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. "State Senator Raymond Newman" he said as he had looked in the mirror after his shower, "No, Governor Raymond Newman. U.S. Congressman Raymond Newman." He smiled with each rung of the political ladder he put himself on. The possibilities were endless.

Matt carefully opened what he believed to be the oldest of the journals as he sat on the couch they had shared so often in front of Baby. He thought about finishing off the bottle of whiskey, but he wanted to be able to read clearly everything he could. His last link to C.J. He had a short lived pang of guilt at reading her most personal thoughts, but he just needed her so much right now. He could barely breathe.

He was right, this little, pink with yellow flowers journal was the first. It started somewhere around her 9th birthday. Apparently it was recommended to her by a child psychiatrist to help her deal with her parent's death. The first passages clearly reflected her anger. She was mad at this doctor for telling her that writing things down would take the pain away. Then the entries turned to anger that her parents were gone. Matt stopped several times, a couple of them wondering if this was a bad idea to read it as it made him hurt for her all the more as he read of her anguish, but it still made him feel connected to her in a new way.

The entries got better when he got to her writings about him in a purple journal with green stripes. This cocky little cowboy next door, he chuckled just a little through the tears, he almost couldn't believe her description of him. After that initial first meeting between the two, when he clearly didn't make the best first impression, she felt drawn to him. She wrote that she didn't fully understand why, but she knew she picked the best best friend ever. Again Matt closed his eyes and ran his hand over the page. Julia Martin made her introduction next. Matt vaguely remembered her from those early days, but she wasn't around as much in the summers, something about having to go to California. So her and Matt had three months a year together, more or less alone. His own mind wandered to those days, the good times, the bad times, like when she got sick and had to have her tonsils taken out and spent two days in the hospital, the times they got in trouble. Matt knew he was the cause of most of it, but she always went along and even took the blame a couple of times. There wasn't anything he could do that she couldn't match. His daddy threatened more than once saying he "had a mind to tan their hides" for whatever it was they had done.

The high school entries were a little more eye opening in the faded brown leather journal. She said he looked "smokin" in his tux for prom. He blinked a couple of times at that, smokin? Reading further though, well it hit him hard when he read one of the next sentences. _ I wished he looked at me that way. Who am I kidding though, all those girls are so pretty and I'm just this stupid little girl next door._ Did he make her think that? He asked himself, finding it harder to breathe. No, no, she was just as pretty as any of those other women. He closed his eyes again and swallowed really hard, almost choking. "I made her doubt herself." He stopped reading and started sobbing.

She couldn't sleep, she thought it was probably because she slept so much that day. So she went downstairs, David and Seth must be outside she thought. The little digital clock read 12:45am, she looked back at the little tv and turned it on. In 15 minutes the news would run again, at least maybe she could see an image of Matt if she couldn't be with him.


	17. Chapter 17

Matt composed himself again as he kept reading through C.J.'s high school years. He noticed she did reference Christian Dean once, the man that stalked her years later and killed her almost husband Carl. All the entry said was that they were assigned to do a science project together and then he got reassigned after two days.

There were references to boyfriends as C.J. fell hard for one after another. She never mentioned love though, just like. She liked them. He took note that the only time she used the word love, it was an entry about him.

A few of these guys Matt thought about hunting down now. The one, Eric…well it seems he was only interested in getting her in bed and when she said no, he almost didn't take that for an answer. If it wasn't for Matt running into her at that party, well he had no idea then. She wrote that she was amazed how he could just be there when she needed him without him even knowing. Then there was Owen, he got mad one night when she tried to do something nice for him and he backhanded her. Matt could feel his blood boil. This guy hit her? Why didn't she tell him? He would have found him alone on some abandoned side of the school and taught him a little lesson. He would have never touched another woman like that again after Matt was done. C.J. just told him one of the horses bucked her off him, that's how she got that bruise. He got to…well…her first time. He almost blushed as he read her account and that pang of guilt came back. It was quickly replaced by anger though as he read that the guy basically ignored her and made some comment about her being his "conquest" the next day.

He also realized that she never found out a few things though. Like the time he took all these guys on the football team out for barbeque once and calmly explained to each one that if they so much as glanced wrong in her direction, they'd be sorry. She did seem a bit confused at the reason Rusty, wide receiver for the team, gave when he took back his inquiry about a date. Matt did it to protect her. He knew what they talked about in the locker room and after one game Rusty made some comment about wanting a little "overtime" with C.J. He was met with a fist in the locker in front of him and a stern warning from the quarterback that he could take that idea right out of his head right then. Rusty had shot back with something like, if you want her yourself then why don't you just go after her instead of keeping every other guy away. C.J. wrote that it must be her, something was wrong with her. Matt broke down again as it all became too real to him. Why didn't he see it then? It became so abundantly clear with each passage that she loved him from afar, and putting her memories together with his, he realized he loved her all along. Only now it was too late.

The news led off with her death. C.J. watched it unfold on tv, it just all seemed so surreal though. There was Matt being helped out of the police station by Roy and Hoyt, that it was being reported that he was holed up in his office. He looked straight into the camera for only one second, but she knew. His eyes told her, he could say anything he wanted, but she could always read his eyes. Seth lied. Houston still believed she was dead. There was only one thing to do…order a pizza.

By the time Matt got to her college years it was 1am and the journal was now more sophisticated looking, red leather. There wasn't as much in this journal, just multiple entries about how busy she was, how many papers were due, how much she disliked algebra, his football games and how proud she was of him, and a few guys here and there, something about one of them seemed strange, but she didn't want to dwell on it. _I wish Matt were here. I miss him so much and I know he would know what to do._ What did she mean by that? He thought back and remembered when he saw her again over Christmas break she insisted that he start teaching her self-defense techniques. But, she only claimed it was because of the violent statistics of the city.

He read on but was a little disappointed with this journal. Them going their separate ways during these years was the only time he really felt disconnected from her and he hoped this would fill in all those gaps. There was the reference to Robert and then Carl. Robert did something to hurt her that she didn't fully share, but Carl took her out right after that and they seemed to have something special until he got that internship in France.

She wrote, of course about how worried she was with Matt in the military and then being sent abroad in the Harvard journal, white leather. Clear to him now, she told him she was handling his tour of duty a lot better than she actually did and it made his heart ache just a little more. On top of that there was Julia's illness diagnosed, she seemed to feel that everyone was leaving her again. Someone named Seth made her feel better though and distracted her and he was happy there was someone, but with all the loss she had experienced so far, he never wanted her to feel like he wouldn't be there if she needed him. He just closed his eyes.

His brows went up when she talked about this candlelight dinner she planned for his arrival back in Texas. Bill was going to be out of town so they would have the house to themselves. Matt thought back and remembered his daddy meeting him in Japan, saying he just couldn't wait for his arrival back in Texas. Bill stayed behind to close something out and he continued on to Texas. She planned to tell him she wanted him in her life as more than just a friend. The dinner was just one part of it. She bought a new dress, had her hair done and wrote how she hoped he take what she had to tell him. Each time he had a leave they always spent time together. Those were the longest entries in the journal, even longer than the writings on her sorority. He didn't realize how much they meant to her, only what they meant to him, and if she only knew about the dreams he had about her when he was abroad, a few might have made her blush.

Now he was seeing this other side to her. This dinner, well, he knew it didn't happen and he knew why. Matt got an earlier flight, but he didn't want to be around anyone, not after losing Will his cousin. He just called the house to tell her not to wait up. He didn't catch her disappointment then, but it was clear as day to him now. He stopped and cried again, he had no idea what he was missing then.

"Extra black olives, and cheese…..no that's it….deliver to this address….let me see…1589 Parkwood Avenue….I'll pay cash when it gets here…oh, and do you have one of those t-shirts I always see on tv advertising your 24 hour pizzeria…good, I'll take one of those too…..and my husband is asleep so I will watch for you, please don't knock or ring the doorbell….thanks!" C.J. put the phone down just as Seth and David made their way back inside.

Both looked at her when they got to the living room again, "Do you feel ok?" David asked a little concerned. "You have a headache still?"

C.J. just rubbed her neck, "No, I'm fine, just couldn't sleep that's all, the light was on down here. You guys headed upstairs to get a little shut eye yourselves?" she said hoping they would say yes.

David looked over at Seth, "She's right, nothing more we can do tonight. We can go over the case in the morning. I'm bushed."

Seth relented, "Fine, let's all go up. I'll lock up and see you two in the morning. We need be on our toes with Newman. Goodnight."

She went back upstairs and waited for Seth to start snoring. And, on cue she heard what sounded like a lawnmower running in the next room. David was almost as loud. So, she quietly tip toed out and down the stairs. They had put her in jeans at some point during this whole ordeal, a t shirt but the rest of the clothes were hers, she didn't have shoes though. She saw a pair of sneakers in the corner with mud on them, probably from the day before when it was raining so hard and put them on. Then she found a rubber band and put her hair up. She tip toed back upstairs to Seth's room and quietly went over to his jeans and slipped out his wallet. He can pay for the pizza and her new shirt, she thought to herself. Another big snore and she made her way out of the room and back downstairs when she saw the pizza car pull up.

She opened the door as quietly as she could and met the woman driver outside carrying the pizza and a plastic bag. C.J. spoke first, "Hi there, how would you like to make a $90 tip?"

The driver smiled and said, "What do you need?"

"A ride downtown" was all she said and the two left.


	18. Chapter 18

The last journal wasn't finished yet. The colorful tapestry cover was beautiful and the last few pages remained untouched. These were the last few years, starting with his business and how she watched it rise and grow. It contained more colorful entries about the agency, every event he took her to, every client they ever had. He learned how exhilarating the work was for her and how much it enriched her life to help people, even when it put her life at risk. He thought back to Castanos and Marquis Duval and that whole nightmare and of course the Peg Allison case….when he almost lost her and thought for one horrific moment he had, when the earth stood still for him. He learned how frightened she was, but how she trusted him. The entry on the day he made her vice president brought a smile to his face. He had really shocked her. Why? She was the only logical candidate? She wrote about how flattered she was, _I just can't believe he chose me for this. There are so many others he could have asked. Sometimes I wonder if he ever thinks about what it would be like if we were partners in life, not just business._

Now she shocked him and he closed his eyes again. Yes, he had thought about it, but he just wasn't sure what to do about it. A few days were missing, but they were those days she was in the hospital with gunshot wounds. Each time she wrote about how she felt him there with her even during the surgery and how she felt when she woke up and saw him there each time. Her declaration of love to him and then Robert, how he made her feel when he came back into her life and he was gone with his uncle. He caught each heart breaking word on the page as she described the betrayal…when she realized he never loved her and was just using her.

If only, if only he thought to himself as he cried again. He could have prevented all this if he would have only come back sooner and told her he loved her too. He found all the entries on Carl and realized her love for him was deeper than he knew and she grieved a lot longer than he thought.

She wrote about how angry she was each time she lost a friend, first her college sorority sisters, Connie and then Julia. He realized she took them as members of an extended family she had created for herself. C.J. took attacks to her friends as seriously as he did and he saw how she would fight as ferociously for him as he would for her. She said she felt her heart stop when Hoyt told her he died on the operating table after a gunshot wound. And then when he lost his fiancée and even that look alike. She just wanted him to be happy, even if it meant he wasn't with her. She wrote about all the times she helped him through some nightmare, wanting so badly to be able to take all the pain on herself, as he had helped her through the loss of Carl, Connie, and Julia and done that for her. How he found her in Bannon County when she got amnesia, all of it. It amazed him how alike their values were and received some measure of comfort in how much he helped her through some of the most difficult days of her life.

He found the entries on his girlfriends like Christina and finally Elizabeth…wow….C.J. had her figured out in about 5 minutes. How did she see it and he didn't, he wondered to himself. The parade of women in and out of his life, just left her feeling more and more insecure about herself and he had no idea his engagement to Elizabeth left her as depressed as it did and how his little speech to her to reassure her did the opposite. How did he miss that? Did she really think she would be left out in the cold after a few years and forgotten? He was almost glad he was finished, because he just couldn't take anymore, not after that last revelation.

The security guard sitting at his desk had almost drifted off to sleep when a pizza delivery car pulled up and the lights hit his eyes. Out popped two women that appeared to be delivering a pizza, but to who? There was only one person in the whole building. The first woman opened the door for the other, the one with the polo shirt, who stated in a matter of fact manner, "I have a pizza delivery for a…" she appeared to look at the receipt, "Matt Houston."

It was now 2:15am. He read everything and was left emotionally and physically exhausted. He took the journals back where he found them and laid them carefully back in the drawer. The phone rang when he got back as he sat there. Who would be calling this late at night? Did he really want to know? He thought about not answering it, but realized it was an internal call from security so he picked it up, "This is Houston."

The security guard really didn't want to disturb him, being filled in by the last guard about what happened but these ladies swore they got a call from the penthouse ordering this specific pizza, so he reluctantly agreed. "Mr. Houston I have your pizza here, from Mario's."

Matt furrowed his brow, "Pizza, I didn't order any pizza." He said softly back.

The guard looked angrily at the two drivers, although he could really only see one woman's face still. The other woman had a baseball cap and sunglasses on and whispered something to the first woman who said, "Tell him its black olives and cheese. Seriously, I can't take this back, no one else would order it."

The guard relayed the message and Matt's eyes opened wide...C.J.'s favorite….how…why….who… "My uncle must have ordered it, send it right up." Then he got his gun, one of the rifles, someone was playing with him and he was going to make them pay, and he could take out his frustration and pain from losing C.J.

"Alright you can go up," the guard said as he put the phone down.

The first, and seemingly lead delivery woman turned to the other and said, "ok, this is your first delivery, so you go on up, take the money, tell him we don't have a lot of change on us if he asks for any and walk back across the street to the pizzeria. I've got more deliveries to make." The other woman just nodded and got in the elevator while the other one left.

Matt waited with his gun loaded and aimed at the elevator door. He wasn't drunk at all, C.J.'s journals had sobered him up real good.

The elevator dinged and then opened. She had her head down with the glasses and hat still on but she heard his pain stricken voice tell her, "Walk slowly out of that elevator." She knew he had his daddy's rifle and started to say something but he cocked it, "I said, walk slowly out of that elevator! Now!"

She swallowed once and did exactly as he said, "Now put that pizza right there on that desk." She did. Then he took one more deep breath and finally said, "Now, turn around and tell me who you are and why you brought me that." She turned, as she did she took out the pony tail, took off the hat and glasses. Matt dropped the rifle.


	19. Chapter 19

He couldn't believe his eyes…there she was…. "C.J." he whispered as he rushed right up to her ignoring any sense that this couldn't be possible, he took her face in both his hands and kissed her like he had never kissed another woman in his life. Tears rolled down both their faces as they kissed for a solid 10 minutes, it was a mix between hungry and intense passion and started just open mouth, but he quickly couldn't help himself and slipped his tongue inside, where she more than welcomed it. Only Chris' desk behind her kept her balanced as his hands caressed her cheeks, combed through her hair and ended up wrapped around her back. Her hands were threaded around his waist then to his back which she rubbed like she just wanted to pull him in even closer.

They came up for air only long enough for him to say "In high school you were the most beautiful woman on campus." He kissed her again, just as hungry as before.

Then he started to move her over to the penthouse, they came up for air again as they reached the steps. "I kept Rusty away from you because he wasn't good enough for you, it wasn't the other way around." He kissed her again before she could say anything, and she was starting to wonder exactly how much he drank before she got there, but…how she had dreamt of being with him like this, and it felt so right, so incredibly right. Good thing the door was behind her propping her up.

His hands were now on her waist and hers rubbed his chest for a moment before going back around him as he kissed her cheek and made his way to her ear where he whispered "When I was in Vietnam all I thought about was you. I wanted you then so much." He moved his hands from her waist up to her face again, "god, I love you," he said as he went back to her mouth and they made their way over to the couch and barely balanced themselves as they stepped down.

"No woman, ever, could compete with you…not Christina...not Elizabeth…you are the only woman, C.J. I love you, I love you so much," was the last thing he said before starting to kiss her slowly leading to her neck, one hand back at her waist and the other pushing her hair up from the side of her face. When he got to her neck he saw the ligature marks, and then he stopped.

His thumb softly moved over the marks as he looked at them and looked back into her eyes. "He did this, Robert did this, didn't he" he asked softly.

Her eyes, they held so many emotions and she knew what he needed to hear from her, "Yes, but I'm fine Houston, I'm here, its really me."

"He kill…almost killed you" he said in a whisper, "I love you, C.J., I almost lost you and I never told you…"

She leaned over and kissed him and put her hands on his face, "I know, and I am so sorry for the past few hours." She brushed a tear off his cheek, "I know how I felt when I was told you died after being shot, and I am so sorry I put you through this."

He kissed her again, he would get the details in a minute, but for right now, all he wanted to do was kiss her again with his arms around her.

They came up for air again and he closed his eyes, it came to him again, what Robert had planned to do to her when he got her alone, he had to ask and she again read his mind. "When he had you, did he…"

"No, he never got that far…I shouldn't have gone into the house," she looked down, "I knew he was in there. I took your gun, made sure it was loaded…I was so careful…cautious….I moved slowly, kept my breathing slow so I could hear any movement." She closed her eyes, "but when I got to the bedroom, I stopped, I thought 'I should turn around and just get out' but no, I crept in and before I knew it, he was on top of me on the bed." She looked up at and saw tears threatening in his eyes and he moved his hands back to her face softly caressing the bruises left behind.

He knew she had to tell him, get it out of her system…but, he wanted so bad to be able to just go back in time and be at the edge of that doorway before she went in that room. "I'm right here, C.J. and I'm not going anywhere...I can't….I love you more than anything else, in my life, C.J…. What happened next, you can tell me."

C.J. took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She flashed back for split second and saw Robert smiling with the rope in his hand. She shook her head for a second and looked back at Matt still looking more concerned than she had ever seen him. "Not tonight, right now I just need you….I just need you to hold me." She moved back into his arms and he held her tighter than he had ever before. He said a prayer in his heart thanking whoever brought her back to him.

They fell asleep on that couch. He woke up first and quickly looked just to make sure she was still there. He felt a shot of adrenalin in that second, but she was sleeping right there on his chest. He closed his eyes again and looked back at her. Yesterday seemed like a bad dream now, the worst nightmare of his life actually. They both were so exhausted last night in so many ways. He watched her back as it moved up and down, thanking God again for the simple fact that she was breathing again. He ran his hand across her face, pushing her hair back so he could see her better. He kept his hand on her cheek and rubbed this thumb back and forth just above a bruise. He leaned up ever so slowly to kiss her forehead again and as he laid back the phone rang.

It woke her up despite the fact that he got it on the first ring. It was another internal call, from security, some man named Seth Parkdale was here and had a badge from the U.S. Marshal's Office. When Matt repeated the name, C.J. closed her eyes and nodded to Matt that she expected him, so he said to let him up.

C.J. sat up and took both Matt's hands in hers and simply said, "Everything that has happened in the last 24 hours is about to make sense."

He rubbed her hands and pulled her to him to kiss her one more time. When he pulled away all he said was, "the last few hours already do."

Seth walked in and saw both Matt and C.J. walking toward the elevator and he was clearly not happy.

"What the hell are you doing here? You're supposed to dead, you're gonna blow this whole operation and you know what, I might not make it to you next time. Next time, we might have to actually plan that funeral." Seth started out on a tirade.

Matt, clearly not liking the tone this guy was taking with her started to step past her, but she stopped him with her arm and said, "Oh let me handle this, I have some words of my own." Then she turned to Seth, "You lied to me. You told me Houston knew about this operation you're talking about, that he knew I wasn't dead, and you let him think I was…you put him and everyone I love through that for the last 24 hours almost."

Ok, clearly busted he thought, "look I was only doing this for your safety, and I bet, as mad as he may be with me right now, he would agree I did the right thing."

Matt then spoke up, "Ok, seems as though I'm the only here that doesn't understand what's going on. So why don't one of you spell it out for me, slow, and then you can go back to yelling at each other. Ok?"

Seth and C.J. looked at each other and Seth relented, "Alright, but first we better move. If one other person, so much as your secretary were to walk in…"

Matt interrupted, "No one is coming in today," he looked at C.J. "I told them to take the day off to remember C.J." Then he gestured toward the couch and the three went and sat down.

Seth started, "C.J. came to me a few days ago and told me that you two might be looking at Judge Newman for a robbery. We've been watching him for a while, we know he's corrupt and dangerous, but we haven't had any real evidence to pin him down with yet. I told C.J. to call me first if you learned anything. The Marshal's Office would have to be contacted anyway before a sitting judge can be brought in. Well, through our own investigation we discovered and were tracking payments being made from Drayton Zoyer's Cayman Island account to an account here in L.A. We decided to, ok I decided to watch Martha Mason. I figured Zoyer might be sending the money to her because of their previous relationship or to set her up for something."

Matt looked confused, "Previous relationship? What previous relationship?"

C.J. spoke up then, "Remember, she was the secretary that works…worked for Abernathy that previously worked for a law firm that represented Zoyer about two years ago. She was sleeping with Zoyer when, in bed, he told her about some of his illegal activities. She contacted the U.S. Marshal's Office and reported it. I didn't really get a chance to tell you before.." Matt digested the information and put his hand on C.J.'s shoulder.

Then speculated more on his own, "So you figured, Zoyer wanted to get back Mason for snitching on him by setting her up to make it look like she stole money from Abernathy. Where does Judge Newman figure into this?"

Seth then offered, "The money Abernathy lost, we uncovered this morning. It went into another offshore Cayman Island bank account, a commercial one, some ABC Electric Company. After you dig through the maze of companies and dummy companies, it traces back to one person, Raymond Newman. Mason told us that Zoyer bragged about having a friend in courthouse, that he could make any problem go away when she was secretary at that other law firm, that her boss didn't need to worry so much or keep her working too late. We noticed Newman seemed to live with a budget bigger than this paycheck, but were never able to prove it."

Matt then got it and C.J. could tell, "What Houston, what is it?"

He stood up, "ABC Electric is the name of the subcontracted electrical company that wired the Hope Building. There's our link between Newman, Zoyer and the Hope Building Fire."

Seth looked over at C.J. but talking to Matt, "The problem is the paper trail isn't direct, we don't know if we can use it. You know she was the one who made that first connection for us. You are smart, I should have known. I mean there aren't many people I know that can read Supreme Court opinions and watch a baseball game at the same time."

Matt sat back down behind her and stroked her back, "She sure is. Now Seth, tell me, why was she brought into this whole mess. I mean I know its not just because she made that connection. Robert is involved here somehow."

Seth and C.J. looked at each other and he explained, "Zoyer and Tyler have shared a cell for the last 8 months." Matt looked stunned.

C.J. then decided to tell both of them what she remembered Robert saying during the attack. "I could be a better witness now."

She took a deep breath and tried to center herself. Matt could tell and rubbed her back to bring her a measure of comfort as she was about to relive something and then listened close when she said, "Robert was about to….well he had just ripped my shirt when the phone rang…he answered it and I heard him tell whoever it was that I was the only one who had connected him to Zoyer, that he did Zoyer a favor.," she closed her eyes as she relived the moment he told her about killing Martha Mason, "That favor was killing Mason, he told me he killed her right before the call, to scare me I guess, I was still fighting him. He told the person on the other end of the phone that he would get all the files and papers from me that would prove anything. He never said Newman, but he did call him judge. I don't think he knows about your investigation of him" she said as she looked at Seth.

Matt filled in the rest, "So Zoyer spends 8 months in a cell with Robert. Learns from Robert how he was going to exact revenge on C.J. for putting him prison. Hires lawyers to get him out on the condition that he kills Martha Mason in the same way…he couldn't have known about our case yet though. But if Robert knew what we were investigating, he might have thought he could get more out of this deal."

Seth and C.J. now looked confused and she asked, "What do you mean?"

Matt was pacing and thinking at the same time and then looked back at them, "A favorable court ruling. More money from me probably in a civil suit. Let me ask you, what judge handles the most high profile cases? Like the Zoyer, Hope Building fire?"

They all got it then and Seth and C.J. said in unison, "Newman."


	20. Chapter 20

Hoyt came in two hours early. He told Det. Warren to do the same and they huddled in his office trying to figure out why Judge Raymond Newman would want to set Matt Houston up for the murder of Robert Tyler. No one else knew of the tape of Houston in the interrogation room, so they both decided that could be their ace in the hole. Warren recommended to Hoyt, "Why don't we go to Newman for the search warrant for Houston's office. Give him a little more confidence. Maybe he will slip up."

Hoyt liked the idea, "Do it, but Warren, accidently have a hand held recorder in your pocket that you forgot to turn off after your last interview, huh." Warren nodded and left for the courthouse.

"Judge Newman!" Warren called out and it caused him to turn around and stop, "I need a signature, it won't take long, just a search warrant."

Newman looked at him, "Why aren't you asking Harmago? He's the one that handles most of these."

Warren needed to think fast and the perfect solution came to him, "Conflict of interest, you see the warrant is to search Matt Houston's residences and office in connection with the Robert Tyler homicide. Harmago was scheduling an evidentiary hearing on Tyler's kidnapping and murder case."

Newman nodded and seemed to digest what Warren said…and was that a little smirk…. "I need to know the probable cause here. Why Matt Houston, what do you have, prints, a weapon?"

Let's boost the confidence a little more shall we, Warren thought, "A weapon, yes your honor. The weapon used against Mr. Tyler was registered to Matt Houston, and let's just say we are confident that he and the weapon have been the in same building for a long time. We really just need warrant to search his building."

Oh yes, Newman thought to himself, this is working out better than I anticipated. "Ok, hand me the forms and make sure you guys do this by the book."

"Yes sir, we should finish processing the scene, Tyler's apartment, this afternoon, we are only waiting on his phone records from the phone company and then we should have it all. We're pretty sure Houston called him to make sure he was there." Warren said bluffing, but wait a minute….Newman suddenly looked nervous.

"No, phone records won't be necessary, just the items in the apartment, that's all I authorizing. Now I have to go, the Zoyer case starts this morning and I have until 10 to review the evidence and determine if the D.A. has enough to go to trial. Good day." Newman said and walked away.

Warren walked right over to a pay phone and called Hoyt in the office, "Phone records, track down the phone records from Parsons and Tyler. They have to be the key."

Hoyt took the warrant and headed over to Houston's office. He didn't really want to go over there, he'd see her office, think back to all the memories he had there. But he needed to at least make it look like he was executing this warrant so Newman wouldn't be suspicious. He also planned to contact the U.S. Marshal's Office and fill them in to bring this corrupt guy down. Hoyt was mad, here Houston was dealing with the most significant loss of his life and this slimy, lowlife judge wanted him to go to jail for Tyler's death! He pulled in, just as he always did, got out and walked past the space reserved for the Vice President. He just closed his eyes and walked in to the elevator.

The guard stopped him, "Sorry Lt. Hoyt, but Mr. Houston doesn't want to be disturbed today."

Hoyt looked at him and asked, "Houston's here?"

"Yes" the guard said and he looked outside, he knew Hoyt and Houston were friends, "he stayed up there all night. At least he ate. He's got another guy up there, some U.S. Marshal or something."

U.S. Marshal? Hoyt digested that for minute and then asked he could at least call and ask if he could come up. The guard did and nodded as Hoyt got in the elevator. On the way up, he kept thinking, what's going on here?

Matt and Seth walked to the elevator to meet Hoyt. They argued as he made his way up if they should tell him C.J. was still alive and she, louder than the two of them, explained there was nothing to debate. She trusted Hoyt with her life and they had better do the same. So they were going to meet him and tell him she was there. Matt then insisted that they then finally explain to him what exactly it was that happened to C.J. and how they got it to appear she had died. In thinking through the case, Seth and C.J. had still not told him everything yet.

The door opened and Hoyt looked at the two men and asked straight out, "So how much do you two know about Judge Newman?"

They looked at each other and Matt said, "Come here Hoyt, we have someone else here that wants to talk to you." They all walked over to the couch and C.J. came out of her office.

Hoyt couldn't believe his eyes, "What's going on…How…I saw you…" He got up and gave her the biggest hug, a few tears escaping though.

"I'm sorry Hoyt, I didn't mean to put you through that. Everything just happened so fast." She tried to explain.

Matt spoke up, "Ok, so now. Tell us exactly what happened."

Seth explained everything, the voicemail C.J. left that day, his racing over to her house, finding her, giving her a toxin to suppress her vital signs…Matt got up and that point and walked behind her and put his arms around her waist, just the thought… Seth picked up on Matt's body language and assured him that he stayed with her the whole time and kept constant tabs on her vitals just to make sure she was ok.

Matt remembered Seth being in the coroner's office then and spoke up, "You're the one that sedated me, weren't you. Only it wasn't just a sedative was it. I mean it knocked me out for 4 hours."

C.J. turned around, "You were sedated? Are you ok? Why did they feel the need to sedate you…..they only do that when…..when someone really loses it."

"I lost it, C.J." he said looking in her eyes, "I love you, I can't lose you, not ever," and he kissed her again. He didn't care if Seth and Hoyt were right there. Neither one were really surprised though.

"Anyway" Seth continued, "we took her back to the safe house. We had a EMT, David, took care of her from there until she snuck out on us. How did you know I was lying to you?"

C.J. was still looking in Matt's eyes when she said, "Because I know him, his eyes told me when they showed him on the news. I've never seen that much pain in them before and I knew." He stroked her cheek for a second as his eyes stayed locked into hers.

Then Seth explained the case Matt and C.J. were working on and how it tied to Robert Tyler. Zoyer and Tyler shared a cell, Zoyer got Tyler out to kill Mason, somehow Tyler found out about their case and that Newman was a suspect, he told Newman and tried to get something out of him. All the evidence they had so far, tapes of Newman's calls weren't detailed enough to really incriminate him, any phone records that could establish Tyler and Newman were communicating regularly would help in a judicial inquiry, but wouldn't land him in jail, and that they were still hoping to find something that could tie him directly to Zoyer and by extension the Hope Building Fire, that would put him away for life. They now only needed something concrete on Newman and that's when Hoyt stepped in.

"Well, I guess I have a piece of this little puzzle too, but Newman is ruling in the Zoyer case this morning." They all looked at each other surprised.

"No!" Seth said exasperated, "We don't have enough on him yet to tie him to anything."

The phone rang again and Houston answered, "Hoyt, its for you, a Det. Warren" and he handed the phone over.

"What? You want me to what?" Hoyt turned around and waved at the window. The others just looked at each other confused, but listened to the rest of the conversation as the other pieces fell into place.

"You can see me….from Tyler's apartment….How?...binoculars, really?...all the way down to how many calories are in the coffee in that bag on the bar….seriously?...what about phone records?" Hoyt got a big smile on his face then. "So Newman placed calls to both the Tyler and Parson's residence and we have the documents….meet you at the base of Houston's building, I think we have one corrupt judge to pick up."

Matt, C.J. and Seth knew then how Robert found out about their investigation, but didn't quite get the rest.

Hoyt turned back to the three watching him trying to make all these pieces fit. "Newman was trying to frame you for the murder of Robert Tyler. He stole a gun out of evidence that was registered to you. Confiscated when Novelli was commander, a murder case involving a horse jockey, you were suspected and brought in…"

Matt and C.J. looked at each other and back at Hoyt, "Yea, I remember that…I thought they destroyed the gun I turned in."

"Nope, it just remained in lock up" Hoyt explained, "Judge Newman was seen leaving the department on the day it went missing."

C.J. interjected, "But Hoyt that doesn't prove he took it. Another judge, and they all do stick together, will not take that as anything more than circumstantial evidence, and we need more than the phone records."

Hoyt continued, "But Matt was passed out in the interrogation room, I have it on tape. That sedative really did a number on him."

Seth spoke up just then, "It wasn't just a sedative, I figured Newman would act to tie up his one lose end. I've heard him on the phone before and I know when the man plans to kill off witnesses, just never been able to prove it. He never says enough, but he always frames someone else, I figured Houston would be the logical choice so I spiked his sedative so there was no physical way he could have killed Tyler. Oh, and I did that for C.J., so she wouldn't kick my butt so hard when she came to."

She smiled at him and nodded her head. "So we have Newman on the phone with Robert at both my house during the attack and at his own apartment. Is there anything else? I mean if he didn't really say anything, then how are we going to prove that Zoyer essentially hired Robert to kill Martha, and Newman all but hired him to kill me? Should I come out of hiding?"

Both Seth and Matt said in unison, "No." Then Seth continued, "We don't know what he'll do. He came after you because you accessed the information on Martha Mason's bank account and traced it offshore, Robert told him. I have people looking for a clearer paper trail between Zoyer and Newman in the Caymans. We just have to hope they find it before he throws that case out this morning."

C.J. had a new thought though, "What if the D.A. asks for a continuation this time, won't that buy us some time? Its been Zoyer's lawyers asking for the extension, not the D.A. Newman would have to grant a request by the prosecutor's office right?"

Matt nodded his head, "That could be a plan, and then we could run down there and find some direct link. I'm losing my mind now anyway right? Accused of murder again? What if I just take off to deal with the loss of C.J.?" He said as he put his arm around her again, "How do you feel about taking a little trip with me, hum?"

C.J. looked up in his eyes, "I think that sounds like a wonderful idea." 


	21. Chapter 21

They all agreed. They would hold the cards close to the vest here, make Newman think everything was still going according to plan. Matt called his mechanic at the airfield and told him to get the Lear Jet ready for a long flight and that he would file a flight plan once he arrived. Hoyt agreed he would arrive with the police about 20 minutes late and be loud when he left the department so the press would follow, keeping only Det. Warren in the loop about what was going on and Seth made sure his contacts in the Cayman Islands would be there waiting to help.

Hoyt and Seth left Matt and C.J. in the penthouse, they had a court hearing to stop. They figured that the two needed to wait until later that night to sneak her on the jet before he made his great escape for the press. That left them with the rest of the day to be together. He called security to tell them absolutely no one gets up to the penthouse unless he called ahead himself and then turned back to C.J. Finally, he could tell her everything that was on his heart and there would be no interruptions this time. He wasn't wasting any more time.

First thing Matt did was close all the blinds. C.J. sat down on the couch and patted for him to join her. The entire time, since she had been in that penthouse, she hadn't returned his "I love you". She wanted to make sure he knew, she loved him more than anything. The revelations he made the night before when he saw her standing in there with that pizza overwhelmed her. The comments he made didn't make a whole lot of sense, but she figured he had been drinking. Still, it seemed like he knew every fear she ever had and was trying to allay each one, in between the most amazing kisses, that is.

He sat down beside her, facing her and took each hand in his own, bringing them to his lips and he kissed them. "I love you so much….I don't think I'm ever gonna say that enough now, even if I say it over and over again…god, C.J., I love you so much." He kissed her again, slower this time, not slipping his tongue inside right away, but soon enough, his hands on her face. He broke their kiss for only a second to say "I want you in every way…my partner in this agency and my partner in my life." He kissed her again and started back down her neck.

She broke their embrace and she asked him, "Partners in life? Where did you get that?"

Matt looked up at the ceiling for a moment, Uh oh, he thought. He knew why he read her journals last night. He needed her, he needed some way to connect to her and they were his only link, but he knew she was not going to be happy knowing he took her most intimate of thoughts and brazenly read through each one.

So he closed his eyes for a second, then looked into hers which were telling him he probably was going to regret telling her the truth, but he knew he could make her understand so he started, staring straight into her eyes….

"C.J., when I got to your house, they didn't want to let me inside….Hoyt tried to hold me back, but I saw your bedroom. I saw the ropes and I saw the blood and I didn't think I was going to make it out…I didn't think….I…..I couldn't feel you anymore. I could always feel you, sense your presence even if we were continents apart, but I couldn't feel you. All I felt was cold." He said as he started to get choked up again.

C.J. put her hands on his chest and softly reassured him she was still there and to go on.

He continued, "They led me out and took me down to the…the…morgue" he closed his eyes. He opened them and kept going, "I just stood there thinking 'no, no, how…how is this happening? I just had you, just had you in my arms not 2 hours ago.' Hoyt took me in and I felt like he stabbed me in the chest when I saw you lying there….the bruises, the burns on your neck from that damn rope….I grabbed on to you, screaming your name when they had to pull me off. After I woke up from the sedation I made Uncle Roy bring me here. I needed to feel connected to you in some way. The pain, C.J. it was the most intense pain I have ever felt in my life…..I found myself in your office, I don't even remember walking in there….I could still smell your perfume" he looked down and gave a small chuckle through the tears, "I saw your signature on that stack of papers I had Murray bring up that morning….I ran my fingers over it….that's when I saw the drawer open and your journals….I know you're probably going to be mad at me for reading them, but C.J. I needed you more in that moment than I have ever needed anyone in my life. And there wasn't a thing in there you could ever feel like needing to keep from me…I love you, all of you, every thought, every word, everything. I love all that you are."

He took a deep breath and continued, "And I will be more than happy to share anything you want to know about me with you…we could start with the reason I bumped into you that first week you were at my school when I was 10….I was late for class and my daddy said if I was tardy one more time I would have to feed the pigs for a month….or in high school when I told almost the entire male population to stay away from you….or" and he took a deep breath again, "how much I thought about you when we were apart in college and then when I went to Vietnam….I told Will I was going to marry you, in fact it was one of the first things he asked me when I found him last year, if we ever got married….I just couldn't deal with losing him there, like that…" he continued as she put her hands on his. "Then, when I left to get away and fell in love and got engaged later…I know that relationship didn't last that long. When I lost her, I didn't think I could go on, but you, you helped me through all that even though I pushed you away…."

"I'll tell you anything you want to know, everything….how I could barely breathe when Castanos had you or Duval….how the earth stood still when for a split second I thought you died when I turned away for only a moment on the Peg Allison case….how I couldn't get to you fast enough when Dean came back and I got that call from you or when you went missing in Arizona, or how much I needed you when Bill died..." He looked down for a minute, "how you held me when I told you I was adopted, when my friend committed suicide, when I thought Vince Novelli was going to die…you have always been there for me….and even though I knew you could handle yourself in Lake Etah I was still packed and planned to head up there when you called that night….I said a silent 'thank you' when we left the police station after Connie died because you had me get the phone and we went together, because if you had gone alone, that shooter might have shot you then…" He took her in his arms for a minute and he knew what he had to say next.

He broke their embrace and looked into her eyes, "I also remember all the times you put me on the mat, all the times you chastised me for putting myself in danger…cases like the one a couple of months ago when we were held hostage in that restaurant, I knew you could handle yourself…I know you can take care of yourself….and I know those journals were private, but my reality was it wasn't enough to stop Robert…but I can't let fear decide how I live my life and I've already waited too long to be with you."

C.J. sat there, stunned, a little angry that he didn't feel the need to respect her privacy, but more than all of that she felt his love for her. She kissed him, almost as intensely as she did when she first walked in that penthouse last night. She broke the kiss and only got out, "I love you, I've waited so long, I've loved you so long" and then they kissed again. This time, with her arms around his neck and his hands around his waist, he moved over her, laying her back on the couch. He wanted her so bad, she wanted him so bad….too bad they both heard the elevator again.

He told her to stay down as he slowly looked over the edge, just in case it was someone connected to Newman. It wasn't though, it was a very exhausted looking Uncle Roy.

Matt said, "Uncle Roy I…" but before he could say anything else, the look on his Uncle's face made him think he was having a heart attack. "Uncle Roy, are you alright?" he said rushing over to him with concern.

Roy walked slowly past him , "C.J., C.J. is that… is that…really you?" She got up and went right over to him and hugged him as he started to cry. "How?" he asked and then he steeled himself, he had been in these types of covert operations before and he was sure mad. "You two, you two set something like this up and you didn't tell me!"

Matt quickly said, "Uncle Roy, no…well at least I didn't…" oh that got a look from C.J. but he continued anyway, "No, look Uncle Roy,… Robert attacked C.J. yesterday and he did almost kill her" Roy looked back at her again and then back at Matt. "But a friend of hers in the U.S. Marshal's Office found her in time and staged her death with a toxin to protect her. Its complicated, but it has to do with a case both us and the Marshal's Office are working on."

Roy seemed to digest that, "Ok, well first things first, C.J….I'm pretty sure I've had that toxin myself, how's the head feeling?"

C.J. looked shocked but stuttered out, "Fine, well fine now, but when I woke up, well it was worse than any hangover I ever had."

Roy nodded his head, "It wears off soon enough, the numbing feeling in your mouth though takes a little longer."

Matt thought to himself, it did seem to take that long for her mouth to warm up. He smiled and looked down to cover it.

"Look, I came over because your airplane mechanic said you called him frantic about having to get away, and well, I thought you might very well be losing control. I've never seen anything like I saw yesterday from you."

Matt patted him on the back and walked him over to the wet bar, "Uncle Roy you have nothing to worry about, C.J. and I were just about to take a little trip."

Roy looked confused, "Trip? What are you thinkin boy? Don't you have a case you should probably finish first?"

Matt put his arm around C.J. "Yes, yes we do, but we need to take this little trip to the Caribbean first to do just that, and we might just stay a few extra days when we're done. We have some time to make up for." He bent over and gave her another scorching hot kiss. He just couldn't resist kissing her again even though he knew they both were going to hear, 'I told you so' for the rest of their lives, Matt didn't care about that all he cared about was her.


	22. Chapter 22

Judge Newman was livid, "What? Another continuance? No, this case will take up no more of the state's valuable time and money. I am ruling on whether or not the D.A. has enough evidence to bring this trial, and I am doing it today."

"But your honor," the D.A. spoke up, "the court has been more than gracious in extending time to the defendant, why is the court now unwilling to extend the same courtesy to the prosecution? It seems a bit odd."

Newman closed his eyes. How could this be happening, he was so close…so close to having this all put behind him. He knew that if he didn't grant this request he could be held to a judicial inquiry and he couldn't afford that, he had to file to run for state senator next week. Reluctantly he said, "Fine, one week, that's all I'm granting. This case is one of heartache and pain. The state has drug this case out long enough. In one week, counselor, you had better be ready to proceed. In the meantime, I feel that since it is the state that is requesting this motion, the defendant should be released." The courtroom erupted and cameras flashed all over the room as he pounded on the gavel. "Court adjourned" he almost had to yell. Then he left, still angry, but at least he got his friend out of jail for the night. He went back to his chambers to check up on the Tyler homicide investigation and see if Matt Houston had been brought in yet. Maybe, he thought, he could at least get that little bit of good news.

Seth chuckled just about every time he heard Judge Newman call Hoyt to ask about the investigation, the search warrant and when exactly they were going to ask for an arrest warrant, through the headphones in the safe house. Hoyt was good, Seth thought, dragging that miserable son of a …..well, anyway making the guy sweat. He heard every excuse a police detective could make and Hoyt made it all sound so convincing. He told the judge how his heart broke for Ms. Parsons when he found her dead, how his detectives were working as hard as they could…they were making progress, so much progress when the copier broke down, the fax machine stopped receiving faxes, and a whole list of everything that could go wrong and did.

Det. Warren did his bit too, calling the judge himself just to be his inside guy on this. Telling him, he knew Houston was guilty, Hoyt was too emotionally attached to the case…it was all so certain to come to a speedy resolution…he just needed this phone record, this eye witness verified statement…he was working hard…nothing to worry about…there was no possible way Houston was not guilty. Man, Seth thought, Newman won't see what hit him.

Newman left that day and Warren followed discretely behind him in an unmarked car. He went to the Tuscan Sunset restaurant downtown. Warren sat in his car across the street as he saw Newman go in and within about 10 minutes, up pulled Drayton Zoyer. Warren picked up his police radio and called Hoyt to came right over. The two casually walked inside, careful to try to stay out of either suspect's line of vision. They found a table set up right behind where the two of them sat with a trellis and they moved over into position and got an earful.

"What the…" Newman said as he looked up from his plate of pasta. "What do you think you're doing? We can't be seen in public!" he said as softly as he could, being as angry as he was.

Zoyer sat down, "What? I just came in to eat and saw you here. Tyler went on and on about this place. Where did you hear about it anyway?"

Newman looked around but clearly annoyed, "Tyler…we met here the other day when he told me he had something for me. Now I don't care if you want to eat, just don't do it around me, anyone even sees us together I could get reprimanded and I'm running for office next year. Now go."

"Fine" Zoyer said, "but we still need to talk about our little business arrangement. I know you have the $1 million already in the Caymans, and I promise I'll bring you in on the next project."

Newman kept looking around to make sure he didn't recognize anyone and more importantly that no one with any influence saw them together, "You promised double on the next project, you already got the land?"

Zoyer replied, "Yep, just to the south of Orange County…same deal as before…lower income housing, but this time I'm asking for a larger government subsidy….you can help out on that when you make state senator, right?"

Newman got a much bigger smile on his face, "Of course, we only want those poor people to have the best now right? ABC Electric will be more than happy wire that building."

Zoyer looked serious, "The wiring better not be screwed up this time…I don't like spending a year in prison for you."

Newman looked at him with a dead serious look on his face, "The wiring was fine, maybe a little older, but there was only a 20% chance it would actually cause any problems. Its cost/benefit Zoyer, you as a businessman should understand that. Now like I said leave, we can talk about this somewhere else less public if you get my drift." At that point Zoyer got up and left, clearly not happy.

Matt and C.J. spent the rest of the afternoon planning with Roy exactly what to do when they got to the Caymans. C.J. still tired, got up at one point and walked back to the wet bar and got a cup of coffee, rubbing her neck.

Matt walked over to her and rubbed her shoulders and asked, "You feeling ok? Still tired?"

She turned to face him as he put his arms around her waist and hers on his chest, "No, its just been a lot these last few days. I want to close this case. I want to get on with our lives now."

Matt took her in his arms, "I know, I do too. I think we can wrap this up quickly enough and in the one of the most romantic places on earth. I want to stay a few days, let you get good and rested up."

Roy spoke up then from the couch they were all just at, "Matlock, getting those documents may not be as easy as you think. Maybe we need to try another approach."

Matt and C.J. looked at him confused, "What do you mean?" C.J. asked.

"Well," Roy answered, "there has to be some kind of direct link. I mean if money goes from Zoyer to Newman in the Caymans, there has to be a piece of paper that does exactly that. Matlock, I can tell you anything you need to know about breaking into a place, all sorts of undercover plans and schemes, how to break out of a soviet gulag, but these bank records are just one big accounting mess to me….might as well be Greek, only Greek is a lot easier to learn."

Murray reluctantly made his way into the office. He cried on and off last night. It couldn't be real, he thought. This morning, as always, he checked the stock market as it opened. Houston Industries went down 5 points already at news of the Vice President's murder. The press was trying to accuse Matt of killing Robert Tyler, but Murray saw Matt that night and he didn't look like he could walk much less destroy an apartment and shoot Tyler. Stock holders though would probably assume the company might just fall apart the way Matt seemed to last night. Murray figured he'd go in today just to form a public statement as president. He had started drafting it last night….The company will live on….C.J. Parsons will live on here….she was the heart of this company and she would want us to continue to help as many as we can through her best friend and founder Matt Houston's company, Houston Industries and the Houston Foundation….we are a stronger company because of her and we will get through this as the family we are…..we have lost her here on earth, but we know she is watching over us.

Murray wanted to find a good picture of her to attach to the official statement he would send to the press later that day, so he got in the elevator to go to the penthouse.

He walked out and heard voices in the penthouse. He wasn't entirely sure if he should go in, Roy might be trying to help Matt deal with that emotional pain he was sure he was still dealing with. They got quiet when he stepped out and then heard Matt say, "Its ok, its just Murray" and both he and Roy came down the steps and looked at each other and Matt patted Murray on the shoulder and said, "Murray, you were just the man we were looking for."

Just then C.J. walked around the corner from her office and smiled at Murray. His jaw dropped and he just stared at her. "How? How….they said….C.J…I…" but he didn't move so she walked over and gave him a hug. She told him it was alright, that there was a case and the feds were involved. He said, "I am so glad, I am so glad" he said as he rubbed her back and hugged her. "So what can I help you with?"

Roy walked over and said, "We need to know, how would one find a direct paper trail between one bank account to another in an offshore Cayman Islands account?"

Murray pushed up his glasses and looked over some the papers Roy handed him and replied, "Well the Caymans are a little more protective of their account holder's privacy, but the Cayman Islands government requires a form when money goes in between accounts down there. Most people aren't aware of it and its more of a legal technicality than anything else, not really considered that important to most people, just the government keeping tabs. I believe you need a Cayman DTR form, if I remember right from my international bank and accounting class. Both parties would have to sign it, but it could be faxed or mailed to do that, doesn't have to be done in person." 

Matt asked, "But both parties would have to have their signature on it, right?" Murray nodded his head. "Well, now we know exactly what to look for."


	23. Chapter 23

That night, Hoyt, Warren, Seth, Murray, Roy, Matt and C.J. met back up at the penthouse. Hoyt and Warren shared what they found out at lunch. More pieces were coming together. Zoyer needed Newman as state senator to get more subsidies for lower income housing projects that they would overbid on and then build with the lowest expense possible and split the profits.

Murray looked over all the forms and found that between Zoyer and Newman, they brought in over $15 million on the Hope Building. "Its all here, although its hard enough for me to understand it, I don't know how a jury would get it. I can put something together that might be easier to understand, as a C.P.A. I should be strong witness right? Maybe I could get them to focus more on me and less on C.J."

C.J. and Matt looked at each other and she put her hand on his and said, "That's sweet Murray, and yes if you could put something together that would help, but I don't want your life in danger either."

Matt stood up, "Its time to get C.J. to the jet, its dark now and we can sneak her on. I'll come back so I can speed out of the building at 6am when Hoyt has the patrol cars drive by. Then Hoyt, you make sure you get that call about 20 minutes later and then call it in to go to the airport. We'll take off and make our way down to the Caymans. Make sure Newman hears from you, Warren, that I was fleeing to Canada, the opposite direction. When we get there we will look for this form and fax it to Seth as soon as we can. Murray, you get that report compiled and Roy, take Chris out for lunch and when you get her back here tell her what's going on." He looked at C.J. who had gone down to the gym and came back with a bag of clothes and said "You ready?" She nodded and off they went.

The next day everything went off as planned. Warren ran up to Judge Newman at the courthouse to tell him and he was furious, but left feeling more confident that only a week stood between him and this mess being over.

Matt flew the plane and as soon as they reached a cruising altitude and he put it on autopilot, she moved up to the front with him. "I thought you were going to take a nap." Matt said as she sat down.

"No, I couldn't sleep…Matt, I know the last few days have been confusing, but I need know, your feelings….do you think that possibly you feel this way…" he took her hand and kissed it which made it a little harder for her to go on with the way he looked at her but she needed to finish, "because you thought I died?"

He looked down at her hand then back into her eyes and said, "C.J. the way I'm feeling right now is the way I've always felt. I always loved you, I just didn't see how much or thought we could cross that line. I told myself it was the timing. When you made dinner for me to push us in this direction, I was still recovering from losing Will, but I was going to do the same for you when I got back. Will and I went back and forth over how exactly I should tell you. I wanted to fly you to Paris, Will thought I was going overboard, but….C.J. I knew I wanted more with you than just friendship….all this time….not that you didn't try to tell me." He said as he looked down.

She took his hand and kissed it and said, "I think you're right. The timing just never seemed to work out."

He leaned over and gave her a brief kiss, "I think the timing is perfect now."

They landed, and made their way to a resort where Matt put down cash so he could have a bungalow to himself…saying he was heartbroken and just needed to be alone, just in case anyone recognized him from the papers. His assistant here, would be handling any calls or correspondence, but he didn't really want to be disturbed. The two got in the private bungalow, put their stuff away and got ready to go into town.

They got in easily enough and C.J. with lots of make-up and a scarf, went to the Government Records building where she met Seth's contact who had been there posing as a Finance Ph.D. working on a book. C.J. and this agent claimed she was a finance major in college working as his research assistant, and they asked to see public DTR forms, strictly for research they said. All names, C.J. assured them, would be left out of any book and they would make limited copies as they respected Cayman sovereignty. They allowed her in and she found a file with the month and year she was looking for and quickly found that paper with both Zoyer and Newman's names on it. She made a copy of it and then tucked the original in her shirt and left. Both her and the agent found a fax machine easily enough and they got the copy to Seth, then mailed the original certified mail. Matt followed closely behind to watch for problems.

Seth and David, guns drawn, entered Judge Newman's chambers. They found out he just withdrew about $50,000 and were afraid he was planning an escape. They had all they needed now, the DTR form from Matt and C.J., the report from Murray Chase outlining in clear language with all the numbers exactly what transpired between Zoyer and Newman, and, after talking to a high level federal judge and his supervisor, an arrest warrant for Judge Raymond Newman, 58 counts of negligent homicide, the murder of Robert Tyler, conspiracy to commit murder against C.J. Parsons and conspiracy to commit fraud against the U.S. Government. He could have another insider so when they discovered the missing money they went to the courthouse. When they got to his office they found him looking over blueprints with another man Martin Coswell. He apparently had just come back from a trip and had in his pocket exactly $50,000.

"What! What is this? I am a sitting judge! You can't do this!" Judge Newman yelled as Seth put the cuffs on him.

Seth patted his shoulder and said, "Judge Newman, I've waited almost 2 years to do this. Tell me, how are the Caymans this year?" Newman's face went pale. "Your buddy Drayton Zoyer is waiting for you downtown and I'm not sure, but I think you might just have some fans in that federal prison you will end up in too." He said as they led both men out.

Hoyt and Warren caught up with Drayton Zoyer on some property south of Orange County. He didn't seem all that concerned at all until he saw Newman in cuffs. Then his smile turned to a frown especially when Hoyt read off the list of charges including accessory to murder in the death of Martha Mason.

Murray stood beside Hoyt as he made the official statement for the department, explaining in brief, vague terms why the judge was being brought in, and that Matt Houston was not a suspect in the death of Robert Tyler. At that point Murray stepped to the podium and proudly informed the public that C.J. Parsons was not dead, she was merely fulfilling her civic duty in working with the U.S. Marshal's office to bring to justice a corrupt judge. He smiled knowing that by the time he got back to his office, the stock would surely go up by 20 points, at least.


	24. Chapter 24

Back in the Caymans, Matt and C.J. looked out over the waves at the sunset. She had a blue short sleeve sundress and was barefoot as they walked out on their private beach. He was also barefoot in jeans and a white button up shirt. They held hands and walked out to the little sunken lounge chairs. While she took a nap after faxing the forms earlier, he busied himself on making that night, one neither would forget. He had champagne ordered and waiting on the beach for them. Just strolling by a jewelry store, his eyes caught the perfect ring. It had a beautiful round diamond, perfect in clarity and just big enough, but on either side were two perfectly cut emeralds surrounded in a thick gold band. The time was finally right.

After watching the sun go down and having the most romantic dinner brought to them on the beach by the resort, all the staff left so they could be alone. They danced for a minute by the water, his hands always on her in some way, whether around her waist, around her shoulder or brushing her hair back as it blew in the ocean breeze. They kissed in between songs that softly played from the radio in the bungalow and they slowly made their way back to the open air room with the large king size bed.

With his arms around her waist and hers around his neck they stepped inside, still kissing. At first they were just soft, sweet kisses on the beach but as they neared the room and then the bed, the kisses lasted longer and he moved around her neck to her earlobe. He was careful each time of the burns that were healing there. His hands went up and down her back and hers alternated between his chest and his back.

When they got up next to the bed his hands went up to her face, his thumbs softly stroking her cheeks as he kissed her and then pulled back to say, "I love you, C.J." he said as he ran his hands through her hair, "I want to make love to you, here, right now," as his eyes sought a response in hers.

She moved her hands up to the collar of his shirt as she answered him, "I want you Matt so much, I love you." She began unbuttoning his shirt and kissing his chest with each button she undid. He closed his eyes as she did that. Then she looked back up at him as he took her face in his hands again and gave her another slow, scorching kiss. He moved his hands from her face, down her neck, right under her arms, lightly brushing her breasts and then back to the flair of her hips, pulling her closer to him. His kiss matched his pull of her to him. Her hands brushed his shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor and then he picked her up and laid her gently on the bed.

Her chest moved up and down as her breathing got just a little heavier as she watched him lay down beside her on the bed. He put one arm under her on the bed and with the other moved the hair off her face as he kissed her. He continued kissing her, moving down to her neck as he started to undo her buttons on this sundress. He didn't try to move the dress, just undo the buttons as they ran the length, to about her knees.

Then he sat up on his elbow and ran his finger lightly down the middle of her dress from her neck down to the middle of her bra, which hooked in the front. Looking in her eyes, "You are sure you want this, I love you C.J." he asked one final time. She barely nodded as she bit her lip, the pleasure she was feeling was already so intense.

He unhooked her bra and with one move brushed the palm of his hand under the bra removing both her dress and it at the same time. He couldn't believe how beautiful she was. She let out a small, light moan as he moved his hand on her, eliciting pleasure for both of them. He almost couldn't control himself as he moved down from kissing her neck to her breast…and she definitely seemed to enjoy the attention he was giving her. He moved to the other one and watched her close her eyes and arch back slightly in arousal.

"You are so beautiful, god you are so beautiful" he said as he made his was back up to her eye level. She sat up just long enough to move the dress off her shoulders, which he helped her with by the way and now the only thing between the two of them were his jeans and a very small piece of lace.

Her hands sought out the button on his jeans and his eyes closed as she opened them enough to slip in her hand. Now he let out a moan as her fingers aroused him in a way he never knew before, as he just took in her body with his eyes. The two combined forced him to kiss her again and help her remove his jeans because he just couldn't wait any longer. Once he was free of all clothing he sat up and took that lace, slowly moving it to her knees, where she bent them to free her from the last of hers. He moved his hand back up her leg, over that one part of her he had never seen before, holding there for one minute as he stroked it lightly, her eyes closed as she moaned again, "oh ah oh." He just couldn't believe how gorgeous she was as he laid back beside her after a few minutes of feeling her respond to his touch.

He then rolled her to her side facing him and moved his hand from her back down as he wrapped her leg around his waist. His hand stopped for a minute about midway and brushed lightly the space in between. He saw her eyes close, her back arch again and she let out another "uh huh, yes"… There was only one more place he hadn't touched yet and he sought it out. More moans came from C.J. as he clearly found a sensitive spot as he continued to kiss her neck.

Her hips started rocking and he knew it was time. Everything he felt, touched and tasted led up this moment. He wanted inside her and so did she, "Matt… now, I need you…I need…" was all she could get out and with that he slowly penetrated.

"Open your eyes" he said softly, "I want to see your eyes" he tried not to move for just one moment as he brushed the hair from her face and stared into her eyes. Soon though he was pumping and he found that sensitive spot again that made her start breathing ragged and she moved her hips to meet him, over and over again for how long, they didn't know, he had moved to kissing her neck and his hands moved around and back down to her breast as she arched her back again, both letting out moans as the pleasure was so intense. She whispered, "Matt, Matt uh huh ah" as she held on to him in the moment, and he, "oh C.J." when he kissed her earlobe. Then after what was at least an hour she let out louder moans. He could feel her reach that one almost delicious moment and feel it himself as he remained surrounded by her, feeling her spasm. Knowing he took her there and seeing the look on her face and in her eyes, he reached his climax. They looked into each other's eyes as they both came.

They slowly came down to earth as they continued to kiss. They untangled themselves and got under the blanket, but kept kissing until they started moving their hands around again and before they knew it were wrapped up in each other making love again, this time with her on top of him as he tried to just lay there, but his hands were all over her and down to her hips where he moved her around on him. By the next morning they lay in each other's arms completely spent. Matt woke up first as the sunlight shone into the bungalow. He looked over at C.J. and knew this was how he wanted to wake up every morning for the rest of his life. He slowly got up and went to his jeans to get the ring and then got back in bed as she started to move.

Her eyes opened and she looked up at him, propped up on his elbow, "Good morning" she said with a smile.

"Good morning yourself" he said back before he kissed her softly. "We have a lot to do today."

She looked confused, "A lot to do, I thought you said I was going to get to stay here for a while to rest and recuperate?"

Matt smiled and said, "Yes, well I am hoping you will be busy organizing something for me."

C.J. thought, ok, I'll bite, "I'll organize anything you want as long as each night reminds me of the last one" she said as she smiled.

He smiled back, "I want every night, for the rest of my life, to be like the one last night. I love you C.J." he said as he pulled out the ring.

She blinked, multiple blinks, "Are you saying…"

Matt kissed her again and said, "Yes, C.J., I told you, you are the only woman. I want you as my partner in every way. Please say you'll be my wife." 

She took her hands and put them on his face as she sat up on her elbows and said "Matt Houston, nothing would make me happier. I love you." She kissed him and the tears started again, "I love you so much." He slipped the ring on her finger.

Matt rubbed her hand in both of his and noticed her expression changed for a minute, "What's wrong?"

She looked back into his eyes again as she explained, "The bruises, and my neck, I don't want to see these in wedding photos."

"We can wait, this bungalow is nice. Then we can fly everyone down that we need or we can go to Paris and get married on top of the Eiffel Tower, or…" she seemed to smile then and he put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up to his, "I don't care where we do it, I just love you."

He moved to kiss her again and she welcomed him and then pulled back a little. "Matt, before we do, I need to tell you everything so we can move on and Robert can be a part of our past."

Matt nodded and both sat up in the bed, the blanket wrapped around them. She turned to face him and took a deep breath. He rubbed her arms with his hands and told her, "Its ok, whenever you're ready"

She looked down at the beautiful ring he gave her and that gave her the strength she needed to look up and tell him. "He come from behind me I think….the gun I had, yours, he knocked out of my hand and I saw it fall to the floor….then he…." She closed her eyes, "then he felt me up with one hand and held my wrists down with the other. I was fighting him so hard but my wrist, I thought it would break…then he hit me once and I tried so hard not to blackout…I kept thinking I have to get to my own gun, the one in my drawer…"she looked back up at him as he had that look of concern on his face again, "he tied my wrists so tight and punched me again, my wrists they were bleeding and he threw me to the headboard…and that's when…" she closed her eyes and her breathing got ragged.

"Its ok, I'm here, he's not, he can't hurt you anymore" Matt said as he tried to help her calm down and keep going to get it all out.

She did start to concentrate on breathing slower and then continued, "He told me about Martha Mason and what he did…that's when he got the call…I thought maybe I could get away, but before I knew it he was back on me….then I saw the rope" she said as she started crying, rubbing her neck. "He put it around my neck and I couldn't breathe, I thought I was dying….I called out to you in my head…I wanted to see you again, just one more time…then he woke me up and did it again…I just…I just didn't know" Matt took her in his arms again, his own breathing ragged. What she was describing…..he couldn't believe it….god what she went through.

"When I woke up the last time I could hear Seth" She said as she finally got herself to stop crying and started coming down.

He continued to hold her a while longer and then broke their embrace and looked her in the eyes, "I'm glad you told me. I know you want this to be in the past, but you will remember it. I know. I tried to put everything that happened in Vietnam behind me and my kidnapping when I was little behind me, but it comes back. But C.J. you have to promise me, when it does, you'll tell me. I don't know how many times you've helped me through the most difficult times in my life in a way that I don't really even understand. You have to let me help you too." He bent over and kissed her hand, "as your husband." She nodded back to him.

She smiled and kissed him again and he held her again for another moment. "I think we should shower and go out and get some breakfast, huh, whatdaya say?" She nodded and he got up promising to shower fast and she told him to take his time.

He climbed in the shower thinking about how he had finally found it, his future. It no longer worried him, what his future held. He knew what it held. None of the women in his past could keep up with his life, there were none he thought he could trust to take care of themselves. C.J. not only could keep up with him but had survived more than he could imagine. He would walk her through every fear, every memory, and anything she needed he would provide as they would move on together. They finally crossed that line between friendship and romance and he realized that in the past, he had sex with many women, but he had only made love to one, and as soon as he could, he was going to marry her.

Once he left the bed she reached in the drawer to the nightstand and pulled out the journal she bought when she went into that store to fax the documents to Seth. It was a large journal with a beach scene on the front. This was the start of a new life for her and Matt. The first entry started with _Last night was the most amazing of my life..._


End file.
